Origins
by 6thbeachboy
Summary: Black Ops 2 Origins
1. chapter 1

**Before I start anything, I am not going to type out Ricky-tofens accent. I don't have the patience. Plus when I read some of the others on here, it confuses the hell out of me and really destroys the groove of the story if I'm stuck trying to decipher what's going on. Just thought I'd say that. Enjoy :) Also, for anyone who doesn't know and for some reason decided to read this, Richtofen is German. Nikolai is Russian, and Takeo is Japanese. And ya boi Dempsey is American. Also note that Origins takes place in 1918 aka the end of WWI.**

* * *

"GO GO GO- **NO!** " I scream at my TV that reads _'You have survived 31 rounds'_. That was the first time I've ever made it that far on Origins! Hell, it's the farthest I've ever made on zombies period. Ugh, Call of Duty stresses me out when it should be doing the opposite; it's should make me forget my stresses for a while. My sorrowful thoughts are interrupted by my friend laughing really hard. He's almost wheezing. "What's so funny?" I pout feeling like he's making fun of me.

" _You_ , of all people, died!" He teased before laughing again.

"Shuddup, Cameron," I mumble, slightly disappointed in myself. I really wanted this to be a long game. Okay.. a longer game.

"Listen, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel bad; You did a great job carrying us." I laugh at that. Out of all my friends on the PlayStation, I'm the one that knows where everything is, where to get stuff, and how to get us out of sticky situations. Black Ops 2 Zombies is my religion. Obviously, my "religious practices" didn't come into play this game.

I smile in pride, "Thank you. You are forgiven." We both chuckle, "but I'm going to bed. It's late, so you should too."

"Yeah, yeah, mom." He teases before we say our goodbyes.

I lean back onto my bed thinking about Origins. Sometimes, I wish I could meet the original four. Wouldn't that be fucking awesome? Having Dempsey being an asshole, but all in good fun. Having conversations with Takeo about how much we hate people. Even though I know nothing about alcohol, talking to Nikolai about Vodka. Now that I think about it, that's 1.0 Nikolai. Lastly, meeting the Richtofen who hadn't had a mental break with reality. I sigh. _Only in my dreams.._ I think as I drift off unintentionally.

* * *

I yawn while sitting up, stretching my arms out, but I'm interrupted by feeling cold metal on the center of my forehead. My eyes shoot open as my whole body freezes. I go cross eyed looking at what I find out to be a pistol pointed at me. My eyes travel up the persons arm to find- Dempsey? _I'm dreaming.._

"Who are you? How did you get here?" He questions pushing the pistol further into my forehead.

I gulp, "I'm Aoife, (pronounced: ee-fuh) and I have no idea how I got here. _Please_ , believe me."

He stares into my eyes, trying to read me. I mean, he can go ahead, all he is going to find is fear and reassurance. Weird combination, but it's true. I'm afraid because I'm trapped in a game, but I'm reassured because I know the original four know what they're doing. To an extent. He grunts, urgency in his voice, dropping his arm to his side. "Listen to me, we don't have time. I'm Dempsey, now do you know how to handle a gun?"

A little more than I'd like to admit. And I may or may not have learned how to use a gun because of Call of Duty... But of course I don't say admit that, I only nod.

"Good, here." He hands me a Remington 870 MCS. This is a fucking chill ass shotgun. "We need to get out of here and meet up with my group."

Again, I nod as he helps me off the ground. I take a second to look around, scanning where we are. If I remember correctly, we are at generator 5. I notice Stamin-up, so I know we are at gen 5. I look passed the generator to see that Odin (the big robot) is on his way to fuck our lives up. "Um if we're leaving, we might want to do it now."

He turns to me then looks to where I'm pointing making his eyes widen. "Shit. Come on!"

He grabs my wrist dragging me along with him and pretty much giving me an Indian rug burn. I struggle to keep up, since he's taller and has more leg length, but I know I need to or else I will be crushed. I push myself to run, somehow running faster than he was but not without a price. My legs were on fire! He picks it up too and by the time we are out of the Robots footprint, the robot steps down. (There are three Robots that walk around the map. Freya, Odin, and Thor in that order if you're looking from Gen 4 to Gen 5, opposite ends of the map. They make footprints because they weigh probably over 100,000 tons. They step in the same footprints too.)

I run to the side, so the robot won't kick me when he goes to step again. Dempsey follows my lead, getting there right before the Robot moves. I fall into the mud, not even giving a fuck that I'm going to get all dirty. "Fuck. That was terrible."

"Well get ready for some more terrible shit." He says looking passed me. I look where he's looking and see a shit-ton of zombies heading towards us.

Fuck.

I cock my Remington letting the zombies get close enough for me to kill them. Tank (Dempsey's first name, more like a nickname) has a machine gun, so he doesn't do that. He shoots the ones far away while I shoot the ones close. When the ones close die out, I turn towards Dempsey to see some zombies behind him, ready to swing at him. Instead of telling him to turn around and get them, I go behind him and fire at them myself- even knifing a few. I want to prove myself if I'm going to be with the Original Four.

After successfully clearing the freak-o-lopes out, I turn towards Dempsey seeing him looking at me, smiling. "That was good, kid. You're a natural."

Holy shit. You have no idea how long I've wanted to hear those words. I didn't even know I needed to hear those words until they were said. And coming from Tank Dempsey? My fucking homie? Yeah, it was amazing. I grin at him, letting my pride in his words show. "Thank you."

He chuckles, "now that the zom-bitches have calmed down a little," I laugh hard, making a wheezy sound come out, at 'zom-bitches' making him smile. I guess none of the others appreciate his jokes. "We need to get to the rest."

I silently nod in agreement making him lead the way.

* * *

My breathing was heavy and my chest felt like it was on fire by the time Dempsey and I were half way near generator 4. He noticed and laughed, "do you want some help?"

In the midst of catching my breath, I reply, "nah, I'm fine."

"Like hell, you are." He responds before crouching in front of me. I stare at his back in confusion. When I don't make any sudden movements, he looks back in slight annoyance. "Well? Are you getting on my back or not?"

"Oh hELl yeAh." I respond, relieved, making him laugh. I hop on his back, latching my arms around his neck, and he straitened up taking us the rest of the way to Gen 4. "Thank you." I speak with a smile on my face.

He lightly smiles too. I can hear it, "don't mention it."

When we are a few feet away from our destination, I ask- more like command- him to let me down. He seems confused on why but complies. I pretend I don't notice his confused stare that rests on me as I walk the wagon and pick up the Lightning Staff Record with a smirk. I spin to look towards him asking, a light hint of 'I know you need this, but I'll pretend I don't just gonna fuck with you', "do you need this?"

His eyebrows furrow describing the confusion while walking over to me and grabbing the disk. "Yeah, actually." He gave me the side eye as we continued to Generator 4. He was obviously confused how I knew what that was, but I don't mind it. If needed, I'll explain myself later on.

"Alright, Aoife, here we are." Tank said pulling my attention to him and the three men next to him.

HOLY SHIT! I practically scream internally. I'm meeting all of my heroes! MY FUCKING HEROES! Maybe not under the best circumstances, but who cares? I'M MEETING THE ORIGINAL FOUR.

"That is Nikolai over there. This is Takeo, and this is Richtofen." Holy fuck, I internally freak out as they all greet me politely. Even Takeo gave a small smile! This is too good to be true.

"Hello, nice to meet you all," I shyly introduce myself, my voice faintly shaking. This is a lot of pressure! If I didn't mention it before, these are my HEROES! "I'm Aoife." (Again: ee-fuh)

"I've never heard that name before," Nikolai speaks.

"It's Irish. My parents are both from Ireland but they moved to America before I was born. Also, my red hair and green eyes could've given the Irish part away." I chuckle at myself. I'm a little racked up in my mind which explains why I just rambled. I can't shake my nervousness off, not helping that I have bad anxiety. It's almost to the point where I'm physically shaking. I'll be fine though. I just need to keep telling myself that. "Anyways," I try to get their attention, snapping myself out of my thoughts as well. "Can someone fill me in on what you guys have done so far?"

"Yeah," Dempsey answered, "so far we've gotten generators 1, 2, and 4 done. We've found the records for the Ice and Lightning Staff. Speaking of those Staffs, apparently they're essential for us to get out. We don't know where to find them, but we've got to keep going."

I nod, already knowing what he's talking about, but he doesn't know that. He doesn't need to know that either; none of them do. Maybe I should ask about Samantha? No, because they'll wonder how I know about her. Oh, well. The less I ask, the better, I guess.

"Well, I guess we better get going with a plan. What did you guys have in mind?"

Richtofen speaks up, "Well, all we had was find the staff parts and try not to die on our way there."

I can't help it, but I immediately start laughing making him and the others frown. "Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to laugh, but that's really what you've got?"

They all nodded; Nikolai, Richtofen, and Dempsey with offended looks on their faces. Takeo had the look of "who the fuck does this bitch think she's talking to?".

"Okay, well how many generators are there? 6? Exactly, so we need to activate all of them first and then go into there." I say, pointing to the excavation site. "Bet it has some important things in there." Yeah, both of the musical pieces. But again, I cant say anything or else they'll be suspicious. Okay, they're definitely suspicious at this point.

"How did you just come up with that?" Takeo asks, his eyes narrowed threateningly at me.

"I'm a good at planning stuff." I come up with quickly, selling it fairly well for how nervous I was on the inside. "Now are we going to do this or not?"

They all nod in unison. I notice Dempsey has a smile on his face as he chuckles. "Alright, leader. Are we all doing this together or are we splitting up?"

I laugh at 'leader', also noticing the slight teasing in it, yet it was serious, "whatever makes it go by faster. Before any of you say anything, yes, I can handle myself."

"Then we shall split up," Richtofen decides. "Aoife, go to generator 3, there are signs everywhere so you should make it. I'm going to the church to get generator 6. Dempsey go to gen 5. Nikolai and Takeo can follow whoever they want."

"I'm going with Aoife," Nikolai declares. Fuck, I wanted to do it alone, so I could get stuff without looking suspicious. Well, even more suspicious. *awkwardly laughs*

"Uh, Nikolai, I think I'll be okay. Go with Dempsey and Takeo can go with Richtofen." I try to convince him.

"Okay." Well, that was easy.

I nod while walking down the path for the tank to get to Generator 3. If you jump off at the right spot, you have a shortcut to Gen 3. So, I jump at the spot and make it to 3 in no time. But before I go up the steps and set the generator to go, I need to find the shield part first. Like Nikolai says in the game, "this will help protect my flank from attack." ... I think I might play the game a little too much.

I go under the 'bridge' and past a box to look at the zombie on the floor. Luckily the shield part was on him, so I go to touch it. When my fingers make contact, it disappears. Weird. I don't question it though.

I go up the steps and to the generator, turning it on. I see the Templar Zombies spawn while I run around, but I pay no attention to them. It's a waste of ammo, unless they get in my way and almost kill me.

"Conversion process complete. Generator 3 now activated." Maxis' voice speak from within the Generator.

Perfect.

Well, my part of the mission is done. Now I'm going to the Excavation Site to get the Musical Parts, so we can make the staffs.

* * *

"I really hope one of them is just keeping a crawler alive and that's why no zombies are coming for us, because if not, I'm screwed." I mumble to myself as I open the Excavation Site. After the entrance is opened, I stumble down the ramp into the Site and look for the Gramophone. I see it sitting next to the table and place it in said table. Oh shit, I forgot I need the record.

I go back up, next to the Pack-a-Punch (which is in the center) and grab the record. I take it down the ramp and place it into the Gramophone.

"Yes, yes! You found it! For the doorways to open, they need to hear the songs." Samantha speaks. I hope everyone heard that, so they'll come over here.

When the music stops playing and the entrance to the staff place opens, I go to grab the Gramophone and record so I can leave, but when I touch them, they disappear. Why the fuck is everything disappearing? We kind of need that for the future. And by kind of, I don't mean kind of. I mean we just fucking need it.

 _"Everything happens for a reason, Aoife.."_ Samantha whispers.

I shudder feeling like someone is right behind me.

The boys better get here soon.

* * *

"Aoife! Where are you?" I hear Dempsey shout from outside the dig site. I follow his voice to the top of the Dig Site so maybe I'd be able to hear him clearer, but I find that he isn't there. "Aoife!" I hear from even farther away. It sounds like it's coming from Generator 5. I look in the sky to see if Odin is walking in his path, but I find that Thor is walking in his. Okay, so I'm in the clear. I walk all the way to Gen 5 but still no one is here. What the hell?

Sirens. You know, the sirens warning that the Panzer-douche is coming? Yeah, those start blaring, and much to my disadvantage, I feel the earth shake behind me signaling he's going after me.

I only have a shot gun. So what do you do when you have bad guns? You run towards someone with a good gun and hope they can fix this problem. So, I start sprinting the fuck out of there, tripping over my feet at some points. Sadly because the Panzer-asshole is out, so are the zombies. While I run, I shoot the hell out of the zombies trying to find where any of the boys are. They are the ones with good guns. I don't know if they are all at generator 6 or what, but I need help and quickly.

"BOYS! DEMPSEY! NIKOLAI! TAKEO! RICKY-TOFEN! ANYONE, PLEASE, DEAR GOD, **HELP**!" I scream while running towards Generator 4, a little way ahead of me.

Suddenly, I see Takeo pop out of nowhere in front of me. "Move, child!" He yells before firing the ray gun multiple times at the Panzer-Ass. Bitch, I want a ray gun. I continue running, because fuck this shit; I'm out. While Takeo runs with me and reloads his Raygun, Dempsey is suddenly next to us shooting an LMG.

Now that so much force has gone into the Panzer-Douche's head, he falls to the ground, exploading.

I sigh in relief while dodging the zombies to grab the staff part he left. Tank is yelling at me for risking my life like an idiot, but hey, someone has to be the idiot and get it. I shoot the zombies with my Remington and finally I reach the part. The third part to the fire staff, nice.

While I'm jumping, I do so backwards, so I can kill the zom-bitches following me. I land on Generator 4's platform and decide to train around there. A shotgun might be the worst thing to use when training, but who cares?

After all but one is dead, I run to Jug and drink it, feeling my taste buds wanting to eject the drink. I immediately cringe, yelling, " _UGH_! That's the most disgusting thing ever!"

"Just wait until you have to drink Quick Revive." Dempsey remarks out of nowhere making me laugh.

* * *

We both walk in circles, with the zombie following us, talking, "so do you have any idea where Richtofen and Nikolai are?"

"Not a clue, but hey I have a question for you."

"Shoot."

"Why do you seem to know more than you're letting on?"

I mentally freeze. Of course I want to tell him, but I don't want him to think I'm lying either. "Well, I know it might sound hard to believe, but I'm not from this.. universe. Okay- sorry, that was worded wrong. Let me try again. I'm not from this dimension. I'm from 2017, a dimension that never had zombies to deal with."

"That sounds nice. But why wouldn't I believe that? With all the shit that goes on here, it seems plausible. But that also doesn't explain how you know what's going on."

"Oh, right! Well, this is all a video game for me. I know every single corner of this map like its the back of my hand," I chuckle at myself while Dempsey stares intently at me, fully paying attention to my words, interest etched on his face. "I have played this map religiously. I know how it started. I know how it ends up." I look directly into his eyes, passion filling mine, "and I'm not sure I'm okay with it." Passion because I am passionate to help them get out of here.

He draws his lips into a thin line in conflict while looking away. "Wow. I'm not going to lie, its kinda creepy you know more about me than I do."

I laugh with a smile, but that smile slowly fades. "I don't know why I was sent here, but I intend to do good things. Even if I wasn't sent for a good reason, I'll help you guys." Man, this felt good to talk to him about. I've always felt 'connected' to Dempsey in a way. I always knew that his tough guy persona was an act. Like I could read him. Like I knew him. I don't really get it. "Sorry if that was creepy, but I thought it should be said."

"No no, its fine. I just kind of wish I knew what the hell is going on. I'm kinda in the dark here."

A grin finds its way on my face at the last sentence. He says that in the game, and I just heard it in real life. Oh hell yeah, I'm having the time of my life here. "Well. There are four staffs. Ice, Wind, Fire, and Lightning. If you wanna know their parts locations, I'll tell you in a second. But you can upgrade the staffs, I also know how to do that for all of them. Enough about the staffs though, did you guys find the mystery box? Yeah? Okay, well I assume it was at generator 2? Because I could really use a Ray Gun or some shit."

"Wow." He said. His whole entire facial expression read: "I'm confused as fuck, but I believe what you're telling me."

I suddenly stop walking in circles, turn around, and shoot the zombie behind me. I don't know what that was, but I felt I needed to do it. It almost felt like I wasn't in control of myself. "Maybe we should go to generator 6.." I tell Dempsey who looks at me with his eyebrows furrowed. I furrowed my eyes brows at myself. Why did I say that?

"Why did you do that?" He questions with nothing less than confusion.

"I don't.. know.." I slowly speak, looking around confused. Confused on why I killed that zombie and why no new zombies were coming out. That was the last, wasn't it?

Suddenly, Dempsey and I see two orange-yellow Revive signs pop up over at the church aka Generator 6. Fuck, that's probably Richtofen and Nikolai. I bet they had some zombies over there.

"TAKEO!" I shout at the sky, "I DON'T KNOW WHERE YOU WENT, BUT MEET US AT GENERATOR 6!"

I give no one time to answer before I'm sprinting over to Gen 6, my shotgun out and ready to kill these meat bags. When I'm at the stairs of the Church, I notice their revive signs are about to turn red, meaning they could die. "No, no, no! DEMPSEY, HURRY UP!" I shout, my voice sounding scratchy, even though he's behind me.

We both sprint up the stairs and into the footprint where they both are. I revive Richtofen while Dempsey revives Nikolai, both of us mumbling, "get up, get up, get up." When they both get up and say their thanks, I sigh in relief, but my relief ends when Nikolai yells, "A ROBOT," and I see red lights flashing. This basically means we have five seconds to get the fuck out of the footprint, or we're being crushed.

" _RUN!_ " I scream as loud as possible, so loud that they even flinched. Since we are closer to the generator than the Church, they run to the Generator and make it safely.

I can't say the same for me, but what I can say is: The foot was shootable, so I shot it and entered the foot when Freya stepped down, hearing Dempsey screaming for me. (Sometimes, you can shoot the foot of the big Robots and enter them. Like Aoife just did.)

I gasp while my eyes open. I'm in the foot. I'M IN THE FOOT! I DIDN'T DIE! HALLELUJAH, I WASN'T READY TO GIVE UP ON MY BOYS ANYWAYS.

I get off of the cold metal under me and grab the Wind staff part then make my way to the ejection pad.

When the white light goes away, I'm on the footprint, standing still, unharmed, holding a part to the Wind Staff. What the hell? I look over the the Generator to see Dempsey looking at me with disbelief. "Are you really here or is my mind fucking with me?" He asks me cautiously.

I smile, "I'm really here, Dempsey."

He laughs hysterically, "oh GOOD!" He runs over to hug me which throws me off guard. But after a second of uncertainty, I hug him back. He gives warm hugs :)

I happily sigh, leaning my head on his shoulder. "I'm okay, Dempsey. I told you I knew everything about this map."

He pulls back with a grin, "that you did, kid. That you did."


	2. chapter 2

I really, really need to tell all of them that I'm not from here and that I can help. (Yeah, maybe my plan to keep it to myself isn't the best.) I know about Maxis, and I know about the fuckery he's pulling. He is not the good guy like everyone makes him out to be. I just need to paint that picture for them. Maybe not blatantly tell them, because Samantha would know and do whatever she could to get me killed. Actually, that's probably why I've been having so many close calls. Well shit, I have to be even more careful.

"Hey, Aoife." Dempsey calls for me to look at him. I probably seemed out of it. "You okay?"

"Yeah," I wave his concern off. "Just thinking about stuff."

He nods, but his uncertainty is still obvious. I'll just ignore it. We need to focus on finding Takeo. Maybe he went to The Crazy Place by accident. Which elemental staff would he want- oh. He wants the fire staff. After all, it is his favorite in the game.

"Hey guys, wanna split up to find him? Richtofen and Nikolai, you two can look together while Dempsey and I do the same." I bring up, mostly to Richtofen since he's seems to be the one in charge around here. Not really since I've been here, but I can still see some of it.

"Do you really think that's a good idea?" Richtofen asks me, his hesitation evident. Maybe for a good reason too. "Last time a lot of inconveniences happened. I'm not sure we need anymore." Yep, good reason.

"Yeah, I'm sure. We'll be in pairs this time." I shove his concern off. I'm trying REALLY hard to get him to trust me on this. "Trust me on this. Please."

He stares at my face for the longest time, an unreadable expression resting on his features. He finally breaks, making me grin. "Fine. Nikolai, come on." They walk the opposite way of us, heading towards Generator 6. Suckers.

I grin wider while turning towards Dempsey. He looks at me a little creeped out. "What are we doing now?" He sighs, realizing my look was because I had something planned for us.

"I think I might know where Takeo is. Follow me." I tell him before sprinting towards Generator 1. If we were to go where Generator 1 is, you can see a tunnel next to the door. That is where the fire staff's tunnel is. Now, I don't think Tak realizes you need the Fire Staff's record to even get the gateway open, but whatever. I just need to stop him before he gets too caught up and traps himself down there.

I had made it to the drop off/shortcut way before Dempsey, but I didn't care/wait for him. I need to get Takeo out of here. "TAKEO!" I yell while running towards the tunnel.

"Aoife! WAIT UP!" Dempsey yells for me.

I ignore him and keep going when I suddenly see a revive sign down the Fire Staff tunnel. "FUCK!" I bellow. You wanna know why?

The ground is rumbling, legitimately feeling like an earthquake- I've never felt one before, so I wouldn't really know, but this is what I imagine it would be like. Anyways, this means that the Panzer-douche is back. When I stand at the entrance of the tunnel, I wait for the Panzer-ass to realize I'm near. When I can feel the ground rumble harder as he gets closer, I realize he has and he's not strolling along; he's full on sprinting.

"DEMPSEY, REVIVE TAKEO! I'M GOING TO DISTRACT THIS ASSHOLE!" I shout, hoping he was finally close enough to hear me. I sprint into the spawn building, trying to go faster than the Panzer-Ass, but he's got a solid four feet on me, meaning he's got better legs than me, to go out the other door leading towards Gen 2. My plan is if I run far enough ahead, I can get something from the Mystery Box and help myself. If I'm not far enough ahead, I'm going to keep running until I'm in No Man's Land and I'll scream for Ricky-tofen and Nikki. I don't know how I managed to come up with this plan in a short amount of time with panicked thoughts filling my mind, but hey, I'm not complaining.

I am not far enough ahead, sadly enough, so I keep sprinting to Generator 4.

Boom. Boom. BOOM. His stomping gets closer to me, his longer legs helping him, making me panic; how hard he rattles the floor with his stomping is almost making me fall over. Bitch, if I fall, I'm done for.

You know when you think there's a ghost or some shit behind you when you're running to your room at night? That's the kind of thing I was feeling. Except something is chasing me and it has a FUCKING FLAMETHROWER AND GRAPPLE! My heart is thumping so hard in my chest (almost matching the Panzer-ass' pace), I'm not sure if I'm having a heart attack or not.

Oh, fuck.

In the midst of panicking, I somehow trapped myself in a corner, so I turn around shooting at the asshole- not like it would do much- until my shotgun runs out of ammo. Shit, I think as I toss the gun aside. The panic rises in my chest, spreading across my entire body like a wildfire as I back up into the wall, suddenly bumping into it. I feel the terrified tears build up in my eyes as the seriousness of the situation dawns on me. I could fucking die right now. Quick, shrill breaths escape me as he keeps stomping towards me, getting closer and closer.

I take a quick, deep breath, practically unhinging my jaw as I let out a bone chilling scream, immediately feeling the inside of my throat ripping to shreds. My crows feet becomes more defined (squeezing the petrified tears out of my eyes), along with the root of my nose as my tongue pops out of my mouth a little bit (opening my throat), my cry for help increasingly becoming more horrific to anything listening; the tearing at my throat climbing higher. I taste every single one of my fears I have in this moment: petrified, panic-stricken, and affright, but that isn't even the half of it. I don't even know how to explain half of them. 

My hands hurt from how tightly I'm clenching them at my sides, my palms could even be bleeding from my fingernails digging into my flesh. All of the muscles in my upper body clench from how much I am exerting into the scream; They're clenched so hard that I'm shaking. 

If you were on the listening end of this, you would be haunted from my keen. If pure terror could be classified as one sound and one sound only, this would be the sound; the overtone of the shriek capturing most of the terror. You'd think it was a Banshee wailing warning you of your death. But this scream wouldn't warn others about their death, it would be a warning of my own.

It sounds like each of my emotions are screaming at one time, creating a choir of horrifying harmony. But it's only coming out of one persons mouth: mine. I feel it deep within my chest to the very top of my head (giving me a major headache), but it all meets in the middle to put power behind it. I feel my vocal chords officially become raw from my keening, creating a burning sensation, like I have invented the fourth degree burn, but I push through. I need the other four to hear me. They probably do. Scratch that, they definitely do. 

My wail echoes throughout the map, the open area letting my terror carry out until it can't travel anymore. But trust me, it will be traveling VERY far. It will travel all the way to Generator 6 with Richtofen and Nikolai, and it will travel all the way to Generator 1 with Dempsey and Takeo.

They will hear me. I'm sure of it, I think to myself.

I end it with an accidental squeak as tears free flow out of my now tightly closed eyes and down my cheeks. I gasp harshly for air; however, it feels like I can't quench my thirst of it. My throat feels like it's on fire. I can't stop shaking as I stand frozen against the wall in the corner, fearing for my life, wanting to comfortingly wrap my arms around myself. I'm too afraid to move though, so I don't.

But.. speaking of life, why am I not dying?

I bravely open my eyes just in time to see the Panzersoldat fall to the floor: dead.

* * *

"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?!" I hear Dempsey shout as he and Takeo run towards generator 4 (where I am), the way he shouted made it obvious he was out of breath from his journey. When I'm finally is in his eyesight, he sprints over here, concern etched on his face. He stops abruptly in front of me, keeping his distance, obviously hesitant on how to approach me. "Are you.. okay?" He cautiously asks me, obviously wanting to help me but not sure how to. I appreciate the effort.

I take in a shaky breath, going to reassure him I am, but my emotions decide that that's no fun when I burst into a new set of tears.

He sighs, coming to sit next to my petite figure. I have myself sat up against the wall, my knees to my chest and my arms around them trying to make myself feel less vulnerable. He puts an arm around my shoulders to bring me into his chest, so I can feel comforted. I do. I lean my head onto him, my gaze off into the distance as I think about stuff.

God motherfucking dammit! Why can't I man the fuck up?! Why am I being a pussy? My mother fucking scream killed a mother fucking machine! So why am I sitting here crying for myself when I'm completely fine? No one else knows how the fuck to defeat this besides me, so I need to compose myself and fucking help them. So listen here, Aoife. You're going to get the fuck up, and you are going to help these mother fuckers-who happen to be your HEROES! Stop crying over something that could have happened, and start fighting for something that is happening.

With that being said- or thought, I push myself off of Dempsey while violently wiping my tears away, earning a look of concern from him. I ignore it. I am going to help the original four, because what Samantha and her father's dumbasses are doing is not okay. I'm going to be Karma up in this bitch.

I get off of the ground and wipe my clothes off, while angry thoughts race in my mind. Angry at Maxis. Angry at Samantha. But most of all, angry at myself.

Fuck that though. I don't have enough time to be angry or feel sorry for myself. I only have time to help the four boys defeat those fuckers.

I look down at Dempsey, since he's still on the ground, just as Richtofen and Nickolai meet us here. "Thanks for your help." I smile quickly - halfhearted, not even close to reaching my eyes - before turning stoic and look at Ricky and Nikki. Haha that rhymes. Shut up, Aoife.

All of the boys walk over to me after Dempsey gets up and immediately start spewing questions out at me, their concern obvious with the slight scolding tone in said questions.

I raise my hand up without a single word, my actions telling them to stop. "I am okay now. I'm alive, right? Exactly." When they stop asking questions, I move on, a deep breath to start off my speech, "now, yes. That was me screaming at the top of my lungs, and yes, it was for you guys to hear me and help me. Thank you guys for sprinting over here, but I.. somehow fixed the situation. Now we need to do some shit that only I know how to do, okay? Before you three question how the hell I know, I know, because I am not from here and this is all a video game- that I have mastered- to me." Might as well bluntly tell them. I don't think there is a soft way to tell someone this. I wouldn't know; I've never had to do it before. "Now that that is said out loud, Samantha is going to be cautious of me and try to hurt me. But fuck her. I know what to do, so if she wants out of here so badly, she'll let me help you guys." I tell them with an authoritative tone, demanding respect. Which I earn. Okay.. maybe it was a little more of a "I'm sick and tired of this bullshit" tone but whatever. They still listened and the job is done. "Now what is our new plan of action- which we will ALL be doing TOGETHER. Ricky-tofen was right, when we split up is when shit goes down." I look towards him to see a smug grin on his face, "don't look too happy. I know shit about you." His grin dropped in 0.2 seconds flat. Little bitch (I'm just kidding. Maybe). "Anyways," I roll my eyes, "are you guys gonna let me help you or are we going to do this the hard way?" I look to each of their faces finding nothing but compliance. "Good! Now. Richtofen, what are we going to do?"

Everyone looks to him expectantly, thinking he's going to know exactly what to do, but instead he looks at me. "Well, you're the one who knows everything, right?" He smiles at me, shocking me, "so I think you should decide, Leader." He didn't say it sarcastically. He said it with pride and belief. Like he knew that I was going to help instead of ruining their plans. Maybe.. maybe he was the one who sent me here? I know that seems like a long shot but hear me out. Maybe insane version of him knew that this was all going to happen, or it was happening when he sent me here, and sent me to help them, so they wouldn't lose. Insane Richtofen was about to die or something along the lines and knew that Maxis had to be stopped, so he sent me here, because I know everything about this map. To help them. To help him. Maybe...

I grin at him when they all turn towards me. "Alright, team. Listen up, because we've got work to do."


	3. Chapter 3

"What in the fuck are you talking about, Aoife?" Dempsey asks me, the confusion written in the wrinkles on his forehead.

"Okay, _Dempsey_ ," I say, not even bothering hiding my annoyance. Its not like its gonna make him mad. He'll probably chuckle. "Listen closely or I'm going to drop kick you," we both chuckle at my lighthearted threat. "What we need to do right now is get all of the staff parts. Now. Which staff should we get first?" I take my attention off of Dempsey by asking all of them.

"Which staff is the hardest to get, and do we even have any of the parts?" Nikolai brings up.

I sigh, "Yes, Nikolai. We have some of the staff parts. We have the Lightning and Ice record, the third part of the Fire staff and one of the Wind Staff's parts. But I would say the Fire Staff is the hardest because the parts are everywhere." I trail off at the end thinking about where the Fire Staff's parts are. When you do Generator 6, the.. case? Whatever the hell you'd call that chest. Oh, there we go: chest. But when you do Gen 6, the chest opens and a part to the fire staff is in there. Basically, it's been chilling in there since Ricky-tofen and Takeo went over there. "We need to go to Gen 6." I state before walking off without anymore directions. Surprisingly, they follow with no question. I _like_ being the leader :).

Anyways, the Record for the Fire Staff is over there too, so hallelujah to that. Oh wait, let's make sure Freya isn't walking over there, because I don't need anymore traumatizing shit to happen. I look up, hoping she wasn't over there, and to my luck, she wasn't. Thanks, Jesus.

We all march over there until we get to the steps. _Oh, yeah. I forgot about the tank_ , I think to myself when I notice it next to the steps. I mean, I don't know how with how fucking big and obvious it is, but whatever. Wait, why the fuck is there a tank in a Church? Whatever. I ignore it and walk up the broken steps of the Church.

The Record for the staff part is luckily sitting there, on the rubble of the Church. So I pick it up and make my way to the chest, going through the footprint. The first part- if you don't count the record as the first part- is floating in the chest. Wow. I would have _never_ guessed- note the sarcasm. Get it? Because I know everything about this map? Yeah, you get it.

I pick it up and briefly tell the boys where the final part for the Fire staff is. Once we are in the footprint that leads to Generator 4 which is right next to the dig site, I tell them to look in the sky and find an airplane that is on fire.

"I found it, I found it!" Nikolai cheers, very giddy.

"Shoot it." I command quickly, so he would be able to get it on time. He does, making me sigh in relief. Sometimes if you take too long to shoot, it leaves and doesn't come back for a while. Actually, speaking of things not being here.. where the hell are the zombies?

My attentions switches off of Nikolai when I hear moaning from the steps to the dig site, so I turn over there. _There's_ the last zombie.

* * *

"WHY THE HELL DID YOU KILL IT?!" Richtofen shouts while we all fight off zombies.

I whip my knife out and stab a zombie in the temple, immediately killing it. "IT WAS A GOOD IDEA AT THE TIME!" I shout as I stand back to back with Dempsey. I grab the M1927 off of his back and spray bullets at the freakbags in front of me.

"Why did you take that?" Dempsey asks while hitting a zombie in the head with the butt of his gun.

"Well, in case you weren't aware, I didn't have a gun. Because you only gave me a sHOTGUN!" My voice raises at the end, showcasing my annoyance. Like I've said before, its not like he will care.

"Hmph. Okay, but only this time. Do it again, and we can fight." He jokes making me laugh. I could sense some seriousness, but he didn't want to make me feel bad. Oh, well. I'm gonna do it again.

"I wanna go pack-a-punch this gun.." I think out loud. Pack-A-Punch basically upgrades your gun and makes it a lot better.

"Then let's go," Dempsey offers, ready to walk away, but I stop him.

"Not right now, you moron. We have a swarm of zombies surrounding us. Maybe we should wait until they die down." I shoot his offer down. I mean, come on, sometimes he needs to think things through.

He rolls his eyes while grabbing me with a single arm, tucking me into him. He stares dreamily into my eyes (why? Idk) while throwing a cooking grenade at the zombies, his face totally still and serious. That is until it breaks into a big, cheeky grin. "What zombies?"

I shake my head at him but with a smile. "Okay, let's go."

Guess where we went? Yeah, to the Pack-A-Punch. We go up the wooden ramp to the top of the dig site since that is where it is.

Oh, my gosh, I've never upgraded the Tommy Gun before! This is exciting! My excitement must have been obvious, because Dempsey started laughing at me. "That's cute." He said jokingly making me hit his arm. "But lead the way, I don't know where it is."

"Happily," I shove him behind me (making him stare at my back in offense but also some amusement) and start walking up the ramp, shooting some random zombies. "Richtofen!" I shout loudly while leaning on the railing since he's still in the footprint.

"What do you want?" He rolls his eyes while yelling back.

"After I'm done up here, we are going to Agartha to get the Fire Staff stone thingy!" I didn't give him time to answer, because I honestly don't care. I mean, if its really important, he'll tell me when I get down there.

I squeal when the Pack-A-Punch was in sight. Wait a fucking second. How the hell do I put my gun in? "Oh no," I mumble to myself, concerning Dempsey.

"What?" He asks, moving from his spot from behind me. He was standing there in case any zombies were to surprise us.

He was uncomfortably close to me, his chest nearly touching my back. "Dempsey, back the fuck up." I grumble, but it lost it's demanding tone with how weird I felt. Why, God, why?!

He hums for a second, still standing in place behind me before following my orders. What the hell was that? What did he have to think about before moving? I ask myself while turning around to face him.

This bitch had the biggest grin in history. "What?"

His grin got wider, "you're blushing!"

I roll my eyes, "yeah, because you made me uncomfortable."

Sadly enough, my explanation didn't wipe the stupid smirk on his face, it only made it bigger. "Suuuuuurre."

I shove him away from me in annoyance, turning back around to the Pack-A-Punch, still grumbling to myself when I hear him laughing. He's annoying :/. Oh well, it doesn't matter.

I ignore his chuckling, trying to think of how the Pack-A-Punch takes weapons.

Nothing comes to mind though. So I start doing random shit, like telling it to take my fucking gun.

"How about you actually hand it the gun, so it can take it." Dempsey said from behind me, speaking to me like I was dumb.

"Listen up, bitch." I say with my finger in his face after I've turned around. His head was scrunched back, because I had my finger so close. "You do not talk to me like I'm below you or else I will show you what it feels like to be below me." I leave my words to float in the air for a moment before dropping my arm and putting a smile on, all like nothing happened. "Okay, now," I turn towards the PAP and put my gun up to it.

Nothing.

"Oh, for fucks sake." I mutter, getting more and more pissed off by the second. Maybe someone lied about doing a generator. Actually.. maybe they didn't get around to it, because the panzer-ass followed me (the first time), and I was yelling for them.

Nah, that can't be it.

I groan loudly, "whatever, we can go to Agartha now," I tell Dempsey, deflated, already walking away from the PAP and to the other three.

He sighs before grabbing my arm making me stop. "Aoife, here- just- give me your gun."

I stare at him and see that he isn't messing with me anymore. A ghost of a smile almost planted itself on my lips. Even when he wanted to mess around with me, he saw me get frustrated and helped me. What a cutie. With that in mind, I hand it over, a smile finally on my lips.

He notices, but doesn't say anything. He only blushes a tiny bit, almost light enough for me to not notice. He takes a look at the PAP, trying to figure out what the fuck to do. He pauses for a moment before simply putting the gun in front of it like he suggested to me earlier.

It takes the gun.

"Now what the fuck is this shit?!" is what I wanted to exclaim. Except I chose not to and gently said a, "thank you," to Dempsey.

His smug grin was back.

* * *

"Oh, come on, Aoife! Don't be mad at me!" He pleaded with me while following my long strides down the ramp to Richtofen, Nikolai, and Takeo. Yet, his pleading had a hint of sarcasm laced with it.

"I'm not mad." I'm not. I'm simply annoyed.

I could practically hear his eyebrows raise along with the disbelief in his voice. "That's a complete lie, and you know it."

I roll my eyes, "Dempsey, please stop or else you _are_ going to make me angry."

He caught up to me, marching alongside me. He raised his hands in surrender. "Whatever you say, Princess."

This idiot. I could use the upgraded M1927 on his ass right now. The gun that _he_ upgraded against _him_. But, again, I chose against it. "Alright!" I shout when Dempsey and I are in the footprint with the other three. "Listen. I know you guys probably would vote against it, but you all have to realize that us staying so close together is going to get us killed at some point." I bluntly point out.

Richtofen nods, "you're right, but that doesn't include now, so we are sticking together."

I nod right back, "I understand but don't forget."

When everyone is on the same page, I lead us to the Fire tunnel.

* * *

"Well, how am I gonna go about this?" I ask myself aloud. I totally forgot about the gramophone and record disappearing. So what do I do?

When I finished that thought, it was almost like I wasn't in control of myself anymore. My body moved itself towards the table- the one in need of the Gramophone. When I stood in front of it, not moving, I heard a voice calling out to me.

It was barely above a whisper, and it was coming from behind me. So I turned towards the wall that used to be behind me.

I had completely tuned out Dempsey's calls to me; I was only fascinated in this voice talking to me. I felt drawn to it. Literally.

I slowly take small steps towards the hole in the wall. The voice _has_ to be coming from there. I finally stood in front of the wall, hearing the whispering get louder. I don't know why, but I reached my hand out to touch one of the many skulls planted into the hole. Ever so slowly did my fingers reach for it; The closer my hand got, the louder the voice got.

Almost ther-

I felt a firm tug on my wrist rip me from my inner thoughts. I gasp in surprise, looking up to see who the hand belonged to.

Dempsey, of course.

"Are you okay?" He asks me with nothing short of concern. I must have been really scaring them. I hesitate before I let my eyes leave his and check to see what the others thought of it. The only one who didn't shield their emotions well was Richtofen. His face had.. fear on it. Fear of what?

I looked back at Dempsey, every single inch of my face reading: confusion and disbelief. "You didn't hear that?" I ask, a mix of exasperation and astonishment intertwined in my voice; It barely above a whisper. It sounded like I was sighing while talking.

"No..." He drew out, not really sure how he should answer. He and the others didn't hear a single thing. "Why? What did you hear?"

I opened and closed my mouth many times, unsure how to answer myself. What the hell _was_ I hearing? I wanted to whisper, " _voices_ ," but something kept me from it. It was caught in my throat as I felt the need to go towards the table.

I put my free hand on top of his which was still latched onto my wrist. I gently pull his hand off of me and walk over to the table, completely missing the pure disquietness etched on everyone's face. I try to think about what I heard the voice say to me. It said something in Irish. I think it said: "Céim amháin: Daingnigh an heochracha," when I spoke that aloud, the Gramophone and Fire Record suddenly sat perfect on the table, untouched, waiting for me to play it.

I reach to do so, but I'm stopped by Richtofen. "What did you just say?"

I turn my head towards the four of them, shock evident in their body language and faces. "I said, 'Step one: _Secure the keys_ '."


	4. Chapter 4

"Well, don't be so dramatic and tell us what the hell that means." Dempsey commands. Seems a little out of his character. Sure, he's impatient, but he wouldn't go as far as that.. hm. Maybe Element 115 is effecting everyone.. Maybe that's why Richtofen looked scared when I started hearing voices. Oh, my God. I totally forgot! In this universe, Maxis was the one who became insane instead of Richtofen. Actually, this universe is different in many ways. The zombie apocalypse happened in World War 1 instead of the second one. Oh, shit. Maybe I should reassure Ricky-tofen that I'm okay.

I need to answer Dempsey's statement first; I take my gaze off of Richtofen and put it onto Dempsey. I might have been staring at Richtofen the whole time I was thinking. Oops. "Um- oh! Well, we are in the middle of doing step 1 out of the 8 steps needed to get Samantha out of here. Step 1 involves doing all of the generators and building the staffs." I clear up, hearing the portal get done building itself from behind me. I smile creepily at them before taking a few steps back and disappearing into the portal.

All sorts of blues and whites surround me as I'm stuck in the in-between of the battlefield of France and Agartha meaning I'm successfully teleporting, and I've been successfully given a headache. Hey, it's different than it is through a TV screen, alright?

I'm thrown to the floor of the Fire Staff's area, hitting my head roughly on the ground. I hiss in pain, bringing my hand up to rub the forming bump, easing some pain. When I pull my hand away, there's some blood on my fingers. Great.

"Aoife? Why are you on the floor?" Richtofen quizzes from behind me, wrapping an arm around me to help me up. Once I'm facing him, he notices the blood towards my hairline. With widen eyes and frantic movement to help me up, he gasps, "are you okay?!"

Once I was standing up, he was in front of me inspecting everything. I chuckle at his worry making him stop and raise an eyebrow at me. "I can assure you that I'm fine." He doesn't look reassured though, so I continue, "both physically and mentally."

He stops looking at my injury and looks into my eyes with sadness. His face fell when I said mentally, but he knew he needed to hear it. "If you're sure, Aoife."

I give him a soft smile, the corner of my lips barely lifting since the pain is too much right now. But it'll pass. "I'm sure, Ricky-tofen." I try to make a joke to lighten the mood.

He chuckles lightly at the nickname. "Okay. The others refused to go through the portal. I don't know why, but they weren't sure of it."

My eyebrows furrow. Did they think that I went insane too? I roll my eyes at the thought. Insane people don't know they're insane. Even more so, they don't let it show in front of other people if they somehow know. "Okay, fine. Then you and I shall get the stone." I offer my arm out to him. He loops his arm through with a smile as we march down the steps.

"Wait! Richtofen watch out-"

"OW!" He screeches when he gets too close to the metal bars on the floor which is covering the lava under it. Lava, something very fucking hot, plus metal doesn't not equal a fun time.

I pull him away from the lava floor, almost making him and I fall down with how much force I put into it. "Oh, sorry!" I steady him with my hands before asking him if he's alright.

"No!" He yells loudly. He flinches when he realizes how harsh he was being towards me, even though I was helping him. "I didn't mean to yell at you. I'm just in pain."

"Don't apologize. What happened?" I ask in confusion. He has good boots on; it shouldn't have hurt him immediately.

"I don't know. It felt like I was stung for a second. I don't feel it anymore, but it hurt when I did."

Well, this is new. I never had to deal with this shit in the game.

* * *

I had another rough landing back, but I was caught by Dempsey. After opening my tightly closed eyes, I look up at his face and give him a stupid grin, seeing he is wearing one too. "Thanks." I go to push myself off of him, but he holds me closer. "Okay, seriously Dempsey, you can let-"

"Why are you bleeding? Did that German bastard do something to you?" He questions me angrily. I roll my eyes in response and forcibly shove him off of me.

"No, he didn't do anything. If you three idiots would have come, you would've seen that I fell while going through the portal." I glare at them when I hear Richtofen come back and fall to the floor, a slight scream erupting from his throat. My lips form a straight line, trying to keep my laughter in as I raise my eyebrows. "See?"

I turn towards him in sympathy, "not fun, is it?"

He groans for a moment before wearily answering me, "nope."

I laugh while picking him up. "Well, let's go make this staff for Takeo." I ignore all of their confusion and make my way out of the tunnel until Takeo's voice stops me.

"Why is it for me?"

I pause before turning towards the original four, a light smile resting on my face. "I know you've been wanting it since I brought it up."

My smile grows as a slight blush forms on Takeo's cheeks. He must not be used to being read so easily. I don't think he's really the type of person to vocalize what he wants. He keeps it in and deals with whatever is left. His voice interrupts my thoughts, "thank you." He has a smile on his face. An awkward one since he doesn't do it often, but there's still an effort.

"No problem," is all I reply before turning back to the exit and leading us out.

* * *

"Have you guys explored down here yet?" I ask them as we go into the Dig Site, single file since the ramp down isn't big enough for all of us, me leading.

"No," Nikolai answered for them all.

"Well, it's about to be some fun times for you guys then." I mutter, kicking random shit out of my way. Now we're all off the ramp, so we walk in a group down the shit ton of steps until we are face to face with four giant, and I mean GIANT, statues. I don't know if the boys will notice, but the statues are of themselves. I choose against pointing that out though. It will only raise questions that I do not need to answer right now.

I point to the furthest to the right, "alright. That's where the Fire Staff is made."

My grin mirrors the childish look on Takeo's face. He's so fucking excited! It's adorable!

He gallops to the Fire Staff thing, excitement written all over his body language. Until his shoulders suddenly droop. "How do I build it?" He asks, turned around.

Oh. "You don't have the parts?" I question him. I thought we gave them to him at.. I don't know. Some point in time.

"No," he replies, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Why is he confused?

"What?"

"No one has the parts," he replies, pointing to the others who all now face me, their hands up showing they have nothing.

My confusion rises when I notice that they're eyes aren't a normal color. They're bright yellow. Not only the pupil. The whole entire eye ball. Yellow like when Samantha was in control..

"AOIFE!" Dempsey shouts in my face, effectively making me jump out of my skin.

His eyes are back to normal. All of them are. So, what the fuck was that? "Why are you screaming at me?"

He looks very taken back, like that is the complete opposite of what I should've said. "You weren't paying attention. And you were.. mumbling something. You wouldn't stop staring at my eyes either. Flattering but creepy."

I was mumbling something? "What was I mumbling? Was it English?" I ask him, in desperate need of the answer. Maybe it had to do with.. whatever has been going with me here.

"I don't think it was but whatever you said, it was very fast and short."

Weird. "Well, did you guys get the Staff or not?"

"Pfft. No, that was our dilemma before you started- what the fuck?" Dempsey interrupts himself while looking at the Fire Staff statue that now held the Fire Staff. Wait a minute. That now held the Fire Staff?

"What the shit?" I question loudly, mostly mocking Dempsey. Honestly, I wasn't freaking out like they were. I fucking made a Gramophone appear by hearing voices and speaking Irish, so anything is possible at this point. And nothing bad is coming from this. We needed the Fire Staff, and we got the Fire Staff.

Takeo stays frozen for a second before snatching the Fire Staff out of it's hold. He grins, a dark hint to it.

That's not concerning.

* * *

I told them I was running to Generator 2, so I could get a good gun from the Mystery Box. Sure, the Tommy Gun is pretty fucking amazing but some back up would be awesome. I don't plan on getting a Staff, so I need the best guns I can get. Yet, when I told them I was leaving for Generator 2, they only said, "okay," and let me run off on my own.

Because that's worked out all of the other times, hasn't it?

I jump from the muddy tank path into the even muddier path to Gen 2, groaning when mud get everywhere. The mud looks really good on my shoes. Man, I'm just a little bundle of sarcasm right now.

I make my way until I'm near the Tank Station, which is where the Mystery Box (and Gen 2) is. I skip to it, only slipping a few times because of the few inches of water on the floor.

"Open sesame!" I yell at the box and, surprisingly, it opens. Oh hELl yEah. I watch as the multiple guns flash themselves at me, showing all of the possibilities of guns I can have.

It gives me a Ray Gun.

I gasp in excitement and quickly snatch the gun, in case the Box decides to be an assbag and make the gun go away.

In the midst of my excitement, I hadn't heard something that was very blatant. Eventually I did notice it, but I still wasn't sure what to make of it. It was a loud buzzing sound. I don't know what it was, but it was pretty annoying the more I listened to it, so I swat my hands around myself, thinking it was a fly. It went away. For a little bit.

* * *

"Alright, boys!" I shout when I meet them up at Generator 4, suddenly grinning. This is where I met all four of them. How cute. I went to speak again, but I'm interrupted by the undead screaming. I groan, annoyed, "never fucking mind. Kill these dumb heads first." I command before kicking a zombie away from me then shooting it with the Ray Gun. I smirk.

This will be fun.


	5. Chapter 5

I grunt as I stab a zombie in the eye, efficiently making him die, the light literally going out in his eyes. I grin, probably making myself look like a maniac with all of the blood that's splattered on my face. Oh well. I ignore the concerning looks of the Original Four and continue killing these fuck heads of the undead.

So, I have been training around the map, running down the long Tank path, going through the Generator 2 area, then making my way towards Generator 4, simply starting the train all over again. Of course, I run backwards sometimes to kills the maggot whores, but you know what I meant.

"GET THE FUCK OFF OF ME!" I scream as a zom-bitch suddenly lands on top of me. I grunt when I fall to the ground with him on top of me, hitting my head roughly and feeling the pain in my back. I, yet again, stab the zombie in the temple, hearing him cry out in pain and all of his weight rests on me. I shove him off me angrily before springing up into action again. I whip my Tommy Gun out and spray the assholes around me, careful not to shoot my comrades. When I need to reload, I quickly do so since I got Speed Cola a while ago. It tasted like shit.

I wipe the blood off of my face- or rather smeared it all over- and give a shit eating grin. Not too many zombies left. I move through the last zombies effortlessly, dancing along with them, watching as they fall left and right at my hands. This is becoming a lot more entertaining.

The last falls after I stab him in the center of his forehead and leave the knife imbedded there. I happily sigh before fixing my strawberry blonde locks.

There it is again! This damn fly wont leave me alone, I think bitterly as I swat around frantically.

"What the hell are you doing?" Dempsey's voice stops me from moving.

I look at him, my brows furrowed in disbelief. I thought it was obvious what I was doing. "There's a damn fly that wont leave me alone." I decide to stop waving my arms, assuming that the fly wont stop. The buzzing still isn't going away :(.

My eyes find Dempsey, a look on his face saying he wants to say something else, but he chooses not to. What? _Whatever_ , I think as I set my journey to the trenches that lead to Generator 6, or 5 depending on if I turn or not. I don't really know why I felt like walking over there, but I have nothing better to do.

When I reach where I can turn to Gen 6, I halt my movement suddenly. I listen for anything around me, not hearing anything for once. _That's strange_ , I think as I turn around. I stand frozen at the sight in front of me. I expected to see the trenches I just walked through, but I don't. I see Richtofen and Maxis, but it wasn't the two from this universe; It was them from the one where Richtofen was insane and Maxis, not.

It's set when Richtofen is about to kill Maxis and Samantha. Or at least that's his plan. He ends up fucking himself over.

 _Maxis stands in front of the teleporter that holds Fluffly, Samantha's dog that they have just experimented on. With all of their other test subjects the machine ended up doing some weird shit to people's cell, zombifying them. The same thing happened here with Fluffy, hence the reason she is now a Hellhound._

 _Richtofen shoves them in with Fluffy and shuts the hatch, reassuring that they are locked in. He chuckles darkly to himself when he hears Maxis pounding on the door and scolding at him to let them out._

 _"What was that? I can't hear you over the sound of your_ _ **death**_ _." Richtofen remarks with giant smirk spread across his face, bittersweet._

 _I don't know if anyone can tell I'm here or not, so I decide to walk forward slowly. The clicking of my heels really gives away my place though- wait. Heels?_

 _I stand, almost paralyzed, when I notice Richtofen tenses up. "Ah, a visitor." I hear the smirk in his voice._

 _I pause, feeling the fear begin to grow in my chest. He's insane! There's no telling what he could do to me! Sweat beads forms on my forehead when he start walking towards me, an evil smile plastered on his face._

 _"Well, isn't this a surprise? I never thought I'd actually get to meet you, only teleport you to.. the other version of me. He's a real charmer, isn't he,_ Aoife _?" He whispers my name in my ear when he's close enough, the heat creating uncomfortable goosebumps along my skin, knowing very well he has complete power over me. "You might be having some side effects from the teleportation and Element 115, no?"_

 _I stay still, closing my eyes when I feel him deeply breath me in, his nose hovering over my neck. I try to maintain my fear and stop my shaking, barely succeeding, but he knows I'm afraid. I wouldn't be surprised if that's what he was just smelling._

 _"You're not going to talk, huh?" He asks me before walking in front of me. I open my eyes, looking into his insanity filled ones. He hums in delight. "That's okay. I don't need you to talk. I need you to_ _ **scream**_ _."_

I feel the scream tear through my throat, out of my control as I try to push whatever, or whoever, was touching me away. My scream pierces the air, effectively silencing all sounds to me besides the shriek itself.

Somehow, though, I hear someone yell over it, "AOIFE! STOP! IT'S JUST ME!" Dempsey?

I finally gain control of myself and end my wail, tears free flowing out of my eyes, my lip quivering uncontrollably as Dempsey lays on the ground with me on top of him, his arms wrapped around me, so I wouldn't squirm anymore.

Silence finally fills the air. At least that's what I thought until the buzzing slowly became audible again. The more I listened, the louder it got. It was coming from the left of me, so I weakly turn my head towards it. The panel. I've been hearing the electricity running through the panel. The panel that the Lightning Staff needs.

* * *

I stand still, staring at the panel; Dempsey is staring at me. I had dried my face of my tears, the wetness still on my cheeks but no new tears. But enough about that, why did the voices want me to notice the panel? I mean, like I've mentioned plenty of times, I know everything about this game. Which means I know what the panels do. But apparently there's something else I need to know. Actually.. "hey, Dempsey?"

I notice from the corner of my eyes that he seems surprised I even spoke, let alone spoke first. "Hm?"

"Do you hear this panel humming?" I watch as he goes up to the panel, setting his ear upon it for a moment. He pulls back, shaking his head at me. If he can't hear it, then that means it's not on. Maybe I need to turn it on somehow? Maybe what I was hearing was what would happen when it is on, telling me I need to turn it on. _Damn, I'm a genius,_ I think making myself smile.

I hum in triumph while spinning on my heel towards Dempsey. His face morphed from uneasiness to pure confusion. "Okay. What the fuck? No, just no. Last time, I let you blow off your scream, but I won't let you do that this time. Please tell me what the hell is going on in that mind of yours. And please tell me what the fuck just happened."

My stoic face breaks into a stupid grin as I start laughing. Oh, Dempsey. He's adorable when he's confused. I smile as I reference something to start my mini story, "I don't need you to worry for me, 'cause I'm alright." I try to stifle a laugh at my hilariousness when his oblivious face makes me break. "Sorry, I just had to make that jo-"

"How are you taking all of this so calmly?" He exclaims with so much confusion that I almost start laughing again. But with how badly he is taking this, I choose against it. He may truly believe I'm insane if I continue.

"Where do I begin?" I rhetorically ask, mostly asking myself out loud. I motion for him to sit down, which he does. I follow suit, sitting in front of him. "Well, maybe I should start with the first time I screamed. I never told you guys why I screamed, did I? Yeah, I didn't think so. Well, you were there when the Panzer-douche- don't give me that look, I've always called him that- started chasing me." He nods, showing how intently he's listening, so I continue. "He trapped me in a corner, so I decided that if I were to die, or whatever, I at least wanted to warn you guys of my demise, or better yet, warn you guys that some ass bag was there. I mean, no fucking zombie is going to take me down. Only that idiot." My tone turned angry at the mention of the Panzer-douche. That dick almost killed me multiple times. Oh, well. I'm still alive, so I won.

"You said that you fixed the problem. How?" He stops my story by asking questions.

"Um, it might not sound believable, but here it goes: I'm pretty sure my scream killed him. I know, I know. Weird, right? I ran out of ammo in my shotgun, not like it would have helped me anyways." I pause a moment, waiting in case he had more questions. He did.

"How do you talk about it so nonchalantly? You were a mess when I found you. You really scared me, by the way." He points at me, teasing.

I light smile makes its way on my face. "Well, I don't see the point fearing it or being resentful towards the situation. I'm alive, aren't I?"

He nods slowly, seemingly taking all of this in. "Makes sense. Okay continue with what just happened."

I grin, "gladly! So when I went to Gen 2, I thought I heard a fly around me. Eventually it went away until you saw me do it. For some reason I decided that I wanted to walk over here." I got up to reenact what happened. I face the path towards Gen 5, just like I was before. "I tried to listen for the buzzing from earlier but heard nothing. So, I turned around to head back to you guys. But I wasn't in the trenches anymore, I was somewhere with Richtofen and Maxis. You don't really know who that is, but that is a story for another time.

This Richtofen was insane though. He threw Maxis and his daughter into a teleporter with a Hellhound they accidentally created. I thought about moving around, since I had no idea why I was there. Maybe looking around would help me find out why, ya know? My heels clicked loudly when I walked forward, alerting Richtofen." I pause, feeling like I was actually there again. Feeling like Richtofen was behind me again and breathing me in. The worst feeling I've felt since the 'Incident'. My voice came out as a sigh, "He recognized me." Dempsey stood up, getting in front of me. He put his hands on my shoulders, letting a sigh of relief out when I look at him instead of blankly ahead. I still didn't feel like I wasn't fully in the moment with Dempsey though. "He told me he was the one who sent me here. Then when I wouldn't talk, he said that was fine. He wanted me to scream.

So, I did. That's when you found me." I mumble, now in the moment with Dempsey. I bite my lip, trying to think of how I would get him to understand. "I'm not insane. _Please_ , believe me." I look to the floor, not wanting to see his pity when he tells me that I am crazy.

He put his finger under my chin, lifting my head, so I'd look him in the eye. Once I look at him, I didn't see what I expected. I saw a soft smile. "I believe you. I do."


	6. Chapter 6

"So, what's the plan?" Dempsey asks from beside me as we hurriedly walk, a pep in our step. We are trying to get to the others, because I know our next step. I'll explain so in my words to Dempsey.

"We know about needing to turn those panels on, right?" I ask rhetorically, using my hands to help me talk. Of course we do. "Well, I never had to deal with that in the game, so we need to find out if Richtofen can do something about it. Sure, I'm a genius, but I'm not risking breaking something if Richtofen knows how to do it." I explain to Dempsey, our pace picking up- making my calves hurt, since I have to walk faster than Dempsey (he's a lot taller)- until we are in the footprint next to the Dig Site. Wait a minute. The robots haven't been walking, now that I think about it. Strange.

We see the three amigos sprint over the stairs, all sighing in relief when they see us. More specifically, me.

"Oh, good! Aoife, you're okay!-Actually, are you?" Richtofen rambles, searching around my body again to see if something is wrong.

I swat him off of me, laughing. He needs to break that habit. "Richtofen, I'm fine. But, I need you for something." I motion for everyone to follow me. After more aching calves, I led them to the panel I screamed at and point at it, "do you know where we could possibly get these to turn on?"

Richtofen wasn't paying attention though. Same with Takeo and Nikolai. They were looking around, serious confusion written all over their faces. Richtofen snaps his head towards me suddenly, "what's going on?"

"What do you mean?" I ask him after a hesitant pause, becoming just as confused.

"The three of us couldn't come over here earlier. When you screamed, we tried coming over here, but it would.. teleport us to a footprint elsewhere." He explains, absolutely dumbfounded.

I open my mouth plenty of times trying to think of what could have happened. Maybe they were kept from coming over here for a reason? Then why would Dempsey be allowed to come over?

"That doesn't matter right now!" I shout, sudden anger forming in my chest. They look startled at my outburst, but it gained their attention, so did I really lose? "What matters is we get these panels working, because I _need_ to help you guys leave!"

I don't think Takeo believed in me when I told him I wasn't from here. He 100% thought I was a false prophet, trying to ruin their chances of leaving. Which is why he's about to ask, "how do you know to do that?"

I freeze, staring at him for a moment. I can't say this is from the game, because it isn't. How do I tell them that I heard something telling me without them thinking I'm crazy? So, I blurt out with a mixture of confidence and self doubt: "I'm psychic."

Richtofen scoffs with his eyebrows raised, the skepticism and amusement evident in his voice, "you're psychic?"

I get frustrated, not really knowing how to explain whats going on with me, but knowing it's not _not_ happening. They've all witnessed it! "I'm _something_!" I strain with desperation.

Richtofen's face turns from amused to angry in a second flat, "yeah, you're crazy."

"HOW THE FUCK AM I CRAZY?! I'M NOT HEARING MY NON-EXISTANT DAUGHTERS VOICE TELLING ME SHE'S TRAPPED SOMEWHERE, AND I NEED TO DROP EVERYTHING TO SAVE HER!" I hiss at my own comment and close my eyes, taking a deep breath. Maybe that was a low blow to talk about Maxis like that, but I needed to make a point. I open my eyes and stare right through Richtofen, so he knows this is all towards him. "I just hear _voices_ in my head." My voice breaks in frustration, watching Richtofens heart crack through his eyes. "They tell me what is different in the game, so I can successfully get you _fuckers_ out of here." Angry tears escape my eyes, as I shake in frustration. "What have I done so far that makes you guys not believe in me? I got you guys a fucking staff, and I'm about to get you another one if you fucking help me!" I wipe my tears away with the back of my hand, _completely_ pissed off. But honestly, what the fuck have I done or not done to make them question me? All I've been is nice and helpful, and this is the thanks I get? I might as well leave them for dead and do this shit on my own. But I wont, because I'm not a piece of shit. "When you heard me scream a little bit ago, it was so I could drown out all of the noise and listen to what they were trying to tell me. I heard this panel humming, but you guys don't, do you?" No one moves. "DO YOU?" I scream making them all immediately shake their heads no. "Exactly. Now Richtofen, don't fuck with me, do you know where some shit is, so you can turn these on?" I ask, a thin layer of kindness over my boiling anger. I say thin layer, because it barely covered my anger, but there was an attempt.

"Yes, I have an area in mind where I can fix it." He says, his voice as if he was talking to a General.

"Please, lead the way." I command. He follows my order.

* * *

"Did you really need to blow up on him like that?" Dempsey whispers harshly as we walk to where Richtofen is leading us. We are in the far back, so it's not like anyone would hear us.

"He was trying me, so I let him know I'm not to be tried." I state matter-of-factly.

He pauses, having nothing in response until, "what in the fuck does that even mean?"

I sigh, rolling my eyes, getting agitated again. "He thought he could tell me what I am. I proved him wrong."

Dempsey only nodded, still not understanding.

* * *

Richtofen let us to a bunch of old fashioned machines, "okay, well. This is it. I'll get to working, but it might take a while. You guys should sleep."

After I sat up against the wall, my legs straight out, Dempsey followed but laid perpendicular, his head in my lap; I immediately run my fingers through his gelled hair, pulling a smile to his lips. He was out like a light.

Nikki and Tak followed soon after, but I couldn't. So many things were going on, that I barely had time to think about it all. The thing that I couldn't get out of my mind was the.. vision? Hallucination? Whatever it was, out of my mind. Especially Richtofen's words. _"You may be having some side effects from the teleportation and Element 115, no?"_ It reminds me of when I read that the 1.0 characters had some personality changes. Nothing too drastic, but what about me? I'm hearing  voices in my head. Voices that tell me things that are to benefit me. They shouldn't do that. They should be against me.

"What's going on in that pretty little mind of yours?" Richtofen's voice rips me from my thoughts.

I chuckle at his words, not even caring that we almost had a screaming match a little bit ago. "It's just.. and sorry, this might not make sense to you, but I'll try to explain to the best of my ability." He nods, paying attention to getting the panels working, but also to what I have to say. I bite my lip, trying to think of the right way to say this. Eh, I'll be blunt. "This isn't the original zombies timeline. This is an alternate universe. The original timeline was very fucked up." I chuckle sadly, almost missing his frown. " _You_ were the crazy one, not Maxis." He tenses up at my words, but he lets me continue. "You were legitimately crazy. Maxis only heard the voice of his daughter talking to him; you had schizophrenia, and it was **bad**. She said she was trapped in Agartha, and I'm pretty sure while you and Maxis were having the fight for power, she sent herself there, so she could make things 'right' here. She only wants to be with her father. But I think before the Evil version of you died, he found me and sent me here." I chuckle, bittersweet, "I don't _think_. I **know** , actually. He told me. He told me all I was was something to help you win." I pause, bitting my lip, again, not sure how to continue, or if I should at all. I decide I better open up to him. I mean, I practically know all of their life stories, and they know nothing about me. I take a deep breath trying to compose myself, "he teleported me here from 1945, which will be the end of the Second World War. And.. um- I think the reason I'm.. 'psychic' is because the teleporter has side effects... bad ones sometimes. I guess I got the bad one," I think out loud, wiping a stray tear away before he could see. It was too late; he saw.

He doesn't say anything for a while, leaving a comfortable silence in the air. He breaks it with an apology. "Listen, Aoife. I- I'm sorry. I didn't mean to call you crazy. I've watched my friend go mad because of Element 115 and from the voice in his head. I was only scared the same was happening to you. So if you think you're psychic, I believe you. If you think you are anything more, I'll believe you.

But something I do not want you to believe is this gift you have gotten was a bad side effect. Does it have anything negative so far?"

I chuckle, again, while playing with Dempsey's hair, _again_. "Yeah, it does. It almost made you believe I was crazy. And I know Takeo believes I am. I don't get why though." I finish, annoying myself. Honestly, what was Takeo's problem? I was nice to him! He put away the differences with everyone else, so why can't he with me?

Richtofen shakes his head with a smile, "remember that everything good has a negative. And I think Takeo doesn't believe you for his spiritual beliefs. Nothing personal."

I look at him, nodding. "That makes sense."

"Besides, what does it matter if he doesn't believe in you? Do you believe in you?" I nod, a smile forming on my face. He mirrors it. "Then it shouldn't matter if he believes in you or not. You've got yourself, and that's all you need."

* * *

I told Richtofen that I'd better get the Lightning Staff Stone thingy, because by the time I got it, he would be finished, and we can get the 3 staff parts. Yes, you can get the stone before having all of the parts.

"Please, look over them. Make sure Dempsey knows where I am, and that I'm safe, or else he'll flip shit on you." I speak in a hushed tone, because all of the boys are still sleeping.

Richtofen laughed loudly before I told him to shut up, because Dempsey shuffled in his sleep making me think he woke up. He fell right back asleep though, a light smile on his cute face. How adorable. "Oh, yes. I'll make sure your _boyfriend_ doesn't freak out," he replies with a cheeky grin.

I laugh in return, feeling my face heating up.

His grin got even cheekier.

"Yeah, yeah," I reply, feigning annoyance, giving a joke eye roll. A smile breaks through though. "But thank you. For everything." I give a genuine smile to him as I thank him. He definitely build up my confidence when I was doubting myself.

"No, thank _you_." He responds back, surprising me. I watch the sincerity on his face grow along with my widened eyes. What would he thank me for? "Thank you for helping us when you could have gone against us. Thank you for putting us in check when we needed it. Thank you for caring for any of us. Thank you for being a great friend. And **thank you** for not giving up on yourself." His big grin almost brought a tear to my eye. But I've been crying too much, I need to stop.

"That... was probably the nicest thing I've ever heard in my whole life. Thank you." Honestly, why can't people be this nice to me in my own timeline?


	7. Chapter 7

I pick up up the Lightning Staff Stone thingy immediately feeling the electricity rush through me. It was definitely not a pleasant feeling; It felt like my bones were rattling, the only way to stop it was to let go of the stone, but I cant do that. I'm going to give this Lightning Staff to Richtofen. It's his favorite, AND he's been such a help to me, so basically it's a thank you. :)

But my thank you is being an asshole right now :/.

I decide maybe I should put it in my pocket, because it might not be an asshole that way. Direct contact is the reason I think it's electrifying. IS THIS THE TIME I GET ON THE GROUND, SCREAMING THE LYRICS TO GREASE?

"I'VE GOT CHILLS! THEY'RE MULTIPYI- OH SHIT!" I scream when I fall through the portal on accident. I guess I was.. LOOOOOOOOOSING CONTRO-WOAH-LE! I'm not sorry.

I land hard as shit in the Lightning tunnel- which is where Gen 5 is. I landed so hard that I busted my face again. Groaning, I reach to my hairline to see if that's where the blood was, but to my surprise, I saw no blood. There has to be some; I can taste it in my mouth.

I reach under my nose and sigh when I feel the liquid. I busted my beautiful nose! What the hell! I ignore it, thinking I'll look like I got into a fight with a zombie when the boys ask about it. Only you and I know the truth so shh. Don't tell them.

After I got up, I pat my pocket to make sure the Stone didn't fly out, and thankfully, it didn't. Phew. I fix my slouched posture and fling my hair over my shoulder. I look around the ceiling, a smirk slowly spreading across my face. I'm just so damn awesome.

I exit the tunnel making my way to the boys. The trip was pretty boring if I do say so myself, so I was playing with my hands the whole time.

I only look up when I realize the floor looks an awful lot like the Church's. When I look up and see the giant ass Tank, I realize that I am in fact in the Church. Why did I come here though? It's the complete opposite side of the map from Dempsey and them.

Might as well take this opportunity to go get all of the parts to the Lightning Staff!

I make my way to the back of the Tank and hop on, barely might I add. I go to the front and hit it, so it would start moving. Everything is still for a second before it suddenly jolts forward making me fall, again.

I moan loudly but force myself to get up, because I need these parts.

I look out the front of the Tank, sighing happily at the scenery. Sure, everything is dull here and has little to no bright colors- besides me and my hair, but it's still a beautiful sight to me. I've been playing this map for so long that I have memorized every single corner, so this should all be old and annoying. But it isn't. It's even better in person.

"Oh! Here's my stop!" I exclaim before jumping off of the Tank, twisting my ankle a little, but it'll heal.

I make sure that Thor's ass isn't walking over here before walking, glad when he isn't, and march my amazing ass towards the first part of the Lightning staff. I pick it up, feeling the Lightning Staff Stone act up in my pocket. I ignore it.

A smile finds it's way to my lips, barely lifting the corners up, but you'd still know I was smiling. My eyebrows raise as I feel proud of myself for the first time here. I feel like I finally don't care, or don't need to care, about what they think I am. I know what's going on with me and that should be the only person who it matters to. There's something going on with me... and I _like_ it.

* * *

I was about to have an asthma attack by the time I had gotten back to Richtofen, all of the Staff parts in my possession. My weak steps alert Richtofen, who was sadly still working on the panels. Nikki and Tak were still sleeping, but Dempsey had awakened and looked very scared.

I walk up beside him, putting a hand on his shoulder to reassure him I'm here. His eyes shoot towards me, sighing in relief when he noticed it was me. I didn't take this as a good sign and sat next to him, lightly resting my head on his shoulder. "Do you want to talk about it?" I ask him quietly, almost whispering, careful not to disturb the others. I don't know what happened while I was gone, but I feel bad I wasn't here to help him right away.

He closes his eyes while sighing and rests his head delicately on top of mine making me smile. "I had a nightmare, and I got scared when you weren't here. Where did you go? Why did you take so long?"

My smile grows at the fact he didn't even hesitate to tell me his problems. "I went to go get the Lightning Staff Stone. Then when I tried coming back here.. I was led elsewhere." I finish, unfinished.

I feel the confusion shift onto his face since he's resting his head on mine. "Don't leave me hanging!" He jokes even though he's still scared on the inside. I can just feel it.

"I was led to the Tank in the Church, and that's how you're supposed to get all of the staff parts." I actually finish the story this time. My smile falters when I feel the Lightning Staff Stone act up in my pocket. It feels like my leg is on fire from how hardcore this Stone is humming.

I try to keep it in, but I couldn't anymore. I groan loudly, jumping up and away from Dempsey, or anyone, not wanting them to get hurt. Richtofen stops with the panels in concern and walks towards me, but I stop him by holding my arms out, telling him not to come any closer.

"I need to go build this Staff, now, or else it'll be the death of me. I'm sorry, Dempsey, but you can tell me about the dream after." I state clearly, leaving no room for an argument since I had already ran out of there, my target being the Dig Site.

* * *

The Lightning Staff Stone was definitely giving me my sudden burst of energy, and I'm not liking it.

Whatever. I'm down in the Dig Site, standing in front of the four large statues, like I've said before they're the original four. Should I ever bring that up to them or let them find that out on their own? I go the the middle right, the Lightning Staff one, and look at it curiously. Knowing this is where you build it, I go to grab the Staff parts but find nothing there. The only thing I have is the Lightning Staff Stone. What the fuck? I guess since it's all I have, I better make it work. I take it out of my pocket and hold it out in front of me; I watch as it glows brighter than before almost blinding me. I cant look away. I don't know what it is, but I cant stop looking in the center of the Stone.

That's when I suddenly see Evil Richtofen's face in the Stone. What the fuck does he want now? He grins sinisterly, "Aoife, my dear. We meet again. I know, you may not be happy with me because of the circumstances we met on last time, but I can assure you, in the near future, we will meet again." He laughs hysterically before continuing, "before I end this lovely chat, I need you to do something for me."

I squint my eyes but not in anger or in annoyance. In confusion and interest. "What would that be?" Now that's when I speak with anger.

He laughs at my attempt to seem unafraid. " _Listen_."

And just like that, he's gone. Listen? Listen to what?

That's when I hear it. The humming like when I heard the panels, but there's a voice among the humming. I don't know what it's saying, but I'm intrigued. I look away from the Lightning Staff Stone, letting my arm drop, trying to figure out where the voice is coming from. As I look around, I notice there's an old lady standing behind me, completely still.

My eyebrows furrow while my eyes widen, confusion and concentration all over my facial features. I take a step or two towards her, hesitantly speaking, "ma'am?"

Her head snaps towards me before she slowly puts a gentle hand on the side of my face. She leans in, getting her mouth close to my ear, so she can tell me something. She whispers some Irish words into my ear and backs up, a big grin on her face. "Your turn!" When I don't do anything besides stare at her in confusion, she continues, "go on! Try it!" She encourages me, the smile never leaving her face.

I repeat what she said to me, nailing the diction and pronunciation. I hear a loud click followed by air being squeezed out of something, like someone let air out of a tire. I quickly turn towards the sound, my hair following my movement closely, only to notice that the Lightning Staff was completely made and ready for me to take.

I turn back to the lady, ready thank her, but I see no one standing there anymore. I search around the room some more to see if maybe she only walked away, but she was gone. I was alone in the Dig Site.

* * *

Ever since I grabbed the Lightning Staff out of it's hold, I couldn't get enough of it's energy. I don't know what it is, or if it'll go away once I give it to Richtofen, but I really need it out of my reach as soon as possible.

But instead of running right back to the boys, I ran to all of the perks possible and got them. :) _Now_ I'm going to the boys.

I run in, taking note that Nikki and Tak are still sleeping. How are they still sleeping? I walk over to Richtofen and shove the Staff into his chest making him stumble back and grab it quickly, so it wouldn't fall and accidentally shoot or something. He gives me a questioning look.

I answer the non-existent question lingering in the air, "you need to get that thing away from me. I don't know why.. but I feel very drawn to it. Not so much now that I'm not touching it, but it's still there."

He stands still, trying to understand what I was talking about until he slowly nods, putting the Lightning Staff on the opposite wall as me.

I breathe a sigh of relief and slump down next to Dempsey. He looks at me, concerned, but I ignore it and ask, "so, how about that dream?"

His body visibly shivers as he looks off into the distance. He spoke hesitantly, "I don't even remember a lot of it, honestly. But I remember the emotions it brought: fear, pain, and.. grief. I- I don't even know.."

I slowly grab his hand, intertwining our fingers. He looks at our hands and smiles. I smile too, "you're not in the dream anymore Dempsey. You feel my hand, right? You feel the hard floor under your ass, right?" The last one makes him chuckle. He nods. "Exactly. Just stay in this moment with me, and you'll be okay." I lean up and give him a kiss on the cheek, a friendly gesture, but I cant lie and say it didn't make me blush. "Lay down. You need to sleep." Once again, he nods and lays down with his head in my lap.

I run my fingers through his hair again, humming a song. Before I close my eyes to sleep too, I see Richtofen glance at us with a knowing look. I flip him off with the hand not touching Dempsey's hair, his laugh being the last thing I hear before sleep takes over me.


	8. Chapter 8

I'm in my room. That can't be right. I swear to God, I was right next to Dempsey a second ago. I sit up in my bed, curiously looking around my room. Everything is in place, and everything feels okay. But, I'm not supposed to be here. I'm supposed to be with the boys helping them leave! I... I left them just when they needed me most.

That's when I hear "California Girls" by The Beach Boys resonate outside my door. In a way, the music sounds like it's coming from a tunnel, but it's at the opposite end of me. It sounds like it's coming from my living room; I should know, I play The Beach Boys all of the time and come to my room for a second.

Who the hell is in my house, playing my favorite music?

I slowly take the covers off of me, noticing I'm fully dressed. I'm not in pajamas. I walk across the carpet in my room and open the door, finally hearing The Beach Boys more clearly.

I don't move from the doorframe, only peaking my head around to see where the culprit was. There he was. He was on the couch.

He turned towards me, a big ass grin on his face. "Ah, I see you've finally awakened." He looks away from me and pats the couch next to him. "Come along. Sit."

I take baby steps, my hesitation obvious, around the couch, going to sit next to him. A little farther away than he wanted, but he said nothing. I don't let my guard down. After all, I _am_ sitting next to a psychopath.

Richtofen sits there, a glass of.. I don't even know, but I know it was alcohol, in his hand, swishing the liquid around. He hums, staring intently at the glass in front of him. I stare at him and the glass with the same intent, if not, more. I don't know what his game plan is, but I'm keeping my guard up until he shows me otherwise. He finally turns his head to me, a smile on his face. Not a warm one. "I told you we'd meet again."

I try to keep all of my emotions in and my face stoic. Again, I don't know what he's doing. "That you did."

He rolls his eyes at me before getting up and turning The Beach Boys off. "There's no point in trying to pretend, Aoife. I know whats going on in that _pretty little mind_ of yours." I hear the sick smirk in his words.

I huff, "then you'd know that I'm about to kick your ass." I remark, my own smirk playing on my lips as I lean back into my couch.

He turns around on his heel to face me. He sucks on his tongue, pretending to think about something before shooting back, "but that's where you're wrong, my dear. You wont do anything to me. At least not before I tell you some things."

I can't lie; those words peaked my interest. He smirks as if he knew what I was thinking right then. "Then spill, so I can kick your ass sooner."

He pouts, "that's no fun. But alright, _princess_." The mock in his voice made me want to drop kick him. But I didn't. "Hm, actually. Let's talk about Dempsey first. Your googly eyes towards him. When you're not looking, he gives them back. It's going to be a real shame when he doesn't have any eyeballs to do so." He chuckles, darkly, it resounding deep within his chest. He was doing this on purpose, like he's trying to rile me up. "I'm going to torture him so much," he steps closer to me, "that even your scream cant save him. That deadly scream that's bound to happen." He stops walking, a foot away from me, and leans down to my ear, "but, that scream wouldn't be able to hurt me." He stands straight again as I watch his every move. More like, glare at his every move. "You can't kill a dead man."

I shoot up, shoving him backwards with all of my might in a sudden burst of anger making him fall to the floor. As soon as he made impact, he started laughing. I stare down at his body on the floor, smirking in triumph when I retaliate with, "but that's what the boys and I are good at. Why couldn't I do so with you?"

He gets off the ground, brushing himself off, making his bigger frame more evident to intimidate me. I don't flinch. His face frowns slowly when he becomes annoyed with me. "I did not come here to be insulted by some.. little girl. I came here to help you, despite what you may think."

I take a step away from him. I raise my brows in complete disbelief. "You? Help me?"

He fixes his.. suit before rewording his previous lines, "actually, I've come here to warn you." I nod after a moment of pondering my choices, silently telling him to continue. He does, "you may have notices some strange.. _attachments_ to these Staffs, no? Yes, well, you need to be very careful with them. If not used correctly, they could become the opposite of what you're using them for. They shouldn't have even been recreated by that _idiot_ Maxis.

A long time ago, there was something called Primis. It was four men during The Crusades who had Staffs and were oh-so amazing, yada yada yada." He rolls his eyes while explaining this to me. Why do I need to know this? "Those four boys were Dempsey, Nikolai, Takeo, and me." WHAT THE FUCK IS HE TALKING ABOUT?! "We were all born many times after the Crusades trying to find one another. In the original timeline, my timeline, we found each other for the first time since The Crusades at the end of World War 2. In THIS timeline, we found each other sooner; the end of WWI."

I interrupt him, still not 100% picking up what he's laying down. "Pause. What does this have to do with anything?"

He clenches his fists angrily at his sides. "If you would let me finish, maybe you would find out." I zip my lips. "ANYways, before they died, there was a girl who came into the picture. She was the reason they all passed. She.. had something evil to her presence. She could sense death; She could cause death. And with only a single scream." He smirks, looking directly into my eyes, a dark hint to them, "so she killed all of them. She didn't only kill them, though. She killed everyone in a 50 mile radius with her scream. Sound familiar?"

My face dropped completely. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. How could someone's scream do that? How co- oh, my God. It's about me. He's talking about me- er, rather a past me. Does that mean I still have the potential to kill everyone by screaming? I look into his eyes, fear coating mine. "So, you mean that I can still do that? That's what you were talking about a minute ago when you said... I had a.. deadly scream.." I trail off the closer I got to the end of my sentence. This is all just too fucking much. I fucking killed a big ass Panzer-dick with only my scream. He's telling me that that was only a fucking fraction of what I could do.

"Yes. That is exactly what I was talking about. And yes, you do still have the potential to do that. I wouldn't recommend it though, because the last time, you died doing it." He points out with pseudo-interest in my wellbeing. Well, maybe he does since he's telling me this?

I shake my head slowly, a weak whisper coming out of my mouth, "that doesn't make sense."

Richtofen growls, irked. "How do you not get it?" He shouts at me making me huddle back in fear. "The Staff's Stone's have minds of their own! Did you not see the dark look on Takeo's face when he picked the Fire Staff up? It's because it was telling him to kill you! The Stone's want revenge on what you did to them and their owners!"

"Oh, my God." I whimper out, realization dawning on me. That means I can't fully trust the boys anymore. "Wait. You said that I predicted death right? Yeah, so I'd be able to know if I was about to die, and I could stop it... right?" I rush my words out, frantically trying to think of ways to make this not as bad as it seems.

I'd never seen so much emotion on his face before, and it was sympathy- of all emotions. I'd never expect that one from him. "The only way you would be able to stop it.. is by screaming. The deadly scream." When my face drops even further, he continues, "but, the only way they would listen to the voice is if they are weak minded. Do any of them seem weak minded to you?"

I pause, trying to think. I'd hate to say it, but I think if any of them would do anything, it would be Takeo. Speaking of Takeo.. maybe that's why he had the sudden change in attitude towards me. Oh, shoot. That means he's already let the voice in. "Yes," I breath out, finally clicking the pieces together.

He puts his hand on my shoulder, saying something to me, but I can't make it out.

"WHAT?" I try to shout, but I don't hear myself either. What's going on?

"AOIFE, WAKE UP!" I hear someone scream into my ear.

* * *

With my eyes closed, I suck in air, quick, but deep enough to let out a ear splitting shriek, pushing everything away from me, thinking that someone was attacking me. My throat burns by the time I hear someone yell, "STOP," as loud as they possibly can. I comply, immediately recognizing the voice to be Dempsey.

I open my eyes wide and watch as all of the boys remove their hands from their ears, blood on their hands. Was that from me?

They all notice the blood and quickly look at me, fear in their eyes. "What the fuck was that?"

I clear my throat, knowing my voice will sound raspy, "I had a nightmare." I try to play it off, but I get knowing looks from them all. "Okay, fine. You guys caught me." I sigh, smiling after a moment when I think of something. I look at them all for a moment before my eyes find Richtofen. I give a smile, but it looks weak. I joke, "you know, you have a really good taste in music." That got some weird looks.


	9. Chapter 9

Dempsey walks up to me after he was done cleaning his ears and face from the blood. I was facing the room, and Dempsey was facing me. He leaned in, trying to be subtle, going to whisper something to me. "Any reason why Takeo hasn't stopped glaring at you for the past few minutes?"

Maybe the voices were saying something to him making him glare at me. But I don't really want to inform Dempsey of that while everyone else is in the room. "Um.. maybe he's annoyed that I just screamed my ass off." I sarcastically point out making it seem like it was obvious, but I knew that wasn't the answer.

Dempsey looks me in the eyes now that he isn't keeping our conversation quiet. "Yeah, and why would that be?" He raises his eyebrows at me, expecting an answer.

I shift in place, uncomfortable, my eyes looking anywhere but at him. I clear my throat like it would cough up the hesitation. "Well, that might just be a story for another time."

He gives me a look making me roll my eyes. If I don't want to fucking tell him, then I don't have to. Plus, I didn't even say I wasn't telling him! I only said he'd have to wait for the story. "It obviously has something to do with Takeo, so I need to know."

I make my eyes finally meet his, the anger in mine making his body frame shrink in fear. "And I fucking told you that I'd tell you later. Do not push it, or you'll know nothing at all." I angrily get out through clenched teeth. I take a deep breath, trying to think of my new plan of action. I mean, my mind is going a million miles per hours. Fucking Takeo is planning to kill me, and I have to worry about Samantha's ass. On top of all of that, I need to get these fuckers out of here. I honestly don't even know what's going to happen after I get them out. Black Ops 3 hasn't come out yet! Well, with how long I've been here, I bet it's already out. Fuckers.

I close my eyes, resting my body onto the wall. I just need to relax even if it's only for a second. "Aoife," someone whispers to me. I groan while opening my eyes. Dempsey walked away from me and went to Takeo, probably to talk to him since I'm not really giving any information. Who the hell whispered to me though? I turn my head to the left and see a grinning Russian. Oh, thank God. I thought I was having another one of my moments. "Hi!" Nikolai squeals with a smile.

I chuckle while leaning my head back onto the wall. "Hello."

He stands next to me still, rocking back and forth on his feet. I couldn't help the smile that made it's way to my face at him being all giddy. "Sooo," he drags out making me raise my eyebrows, telling him to continue. "You know how we haven't gotten the Ice Staff yet?"

I laugh, looking down at the floor, my hair falling down around my bowed head. After I was done laughing, I look back up at him- on my way to look at him, I saw a glaring Dempsey- and respond kindly, "yes, you can have the Ice Staff."

"Yay!" He shouts, throwing his arms around me in a bear hug. I laugh yet again and go to wrap my arms around him as well, but Dempsey ripped him off of me, glaring at Nikolai in an unspoken threat. Nikki got the hint with his hands raised in surrender and backed off.

Dempsey turned towards me, an unreadable expression, but you can bet your ass mine was readable. I had my lips puckered, my eyebrows raised, and I was giving him an expectant look. I mean, I kind of knew what was going on, but I didn't want to say it out loud and embarrass him. But I knew, he was jealous. I hum in thought while a smirk forms on my face. Its kind of flattering that he was jealous, but I will punch him if he does that anymore. I look him in the eyes, now noticing that his cheeks were completely red. I decide to not be an asshole and smile. "It's okay, Dempsey." I lightly coo.

His cheeks become even more red, which I didn't think was possible, and he looks like he's pouting a tiny bit. I shake my head at him with a grin. He turns away to walk over to Takeo. Wow. What a fucker. I'm really gonna fight his ass now.

I roll my eyes, letting my grin drop into a scowl. Whatever, I don't need to be nice to people right now. I need to get the Ice Staff for Nikki.

* * *

We fucking finally got every part, but it took forever with Dempsey and Takeo lagging in the back. Not to mention the zombies were fucking us up. I used my Ray Gun and Tommy Gun though, so it's okay. But I'm becoming very suspicious of Dempsey suddenly talking to Tak. I mean, at first I thought it was only because he knew Tak wasn't happy with me, so he thought he'd make me mad by talking to him. You know, childish shit. But, they actually seem a little too close. Maybe I'm just imagining it, but.. I don't know. Like I've said, Takeo is fucking planning on killing me. Dempsey is talking to my soon-to-be murderer. This isn't good.

"Aoife," I hear someone whisper to me again. Oh, fuck. It was not Nikolai this time. I turn away from the Original Four and the staff holders and see the same old lady in front of me from last time I was down here. I look at her expectantly, waiting for some Irish chant, so the Ice Staff would be created. But she says something that catches me off guard. "Beware King Richard III." Then just like that, she vanished.

Who in the flying fuck is Richard III? Like the historical figure? He's from the past, so I wouldn't have to worry about someone in the past... right? Maybe she was only messing with me, knowing I would overthink it. Or maybe she said that as a warning of some kind. Like I would have to decode it.

Another figure walked into my vision.. followed by another, once they came out of the shadows, I realize it's Evil Richtofen and Origins Richtofen. It doesn't really look like them, though. They don't have the same vibes as each Richtofen. "The past is in the present, and the present is the future if you do not change it." They harmonize before walking away. What in the fuck is going on? What the hell does that even mean?!

Finally, Samantha walks up to me. I expect a coded answer from her as well and my expectation is met when she says, "not everything is as it seems. Someone is playing the role of the innocent flower, but they are really the serpent beneath. You need to fix it, Edwina." Again, she's gone.

WHAT IN THE FUCKING FUCK IS GOING ON? Okay, Aoife, calm down and collect yourself. This is not the time to be panicking. First of all, that lady said to beware King Richard III. Then, I was called Edwina... that reminds me of something in history, actually. But that's not the point. Both Richtofen's said that the past is in the present and the present will be the future if I don't change it. So... is that like some transitive property shit? Because the past = present, then present = future, that means the past will equal the future.. if I don't stop it. So I need to stop an event that I don't even know is going on. Great... then Sam says someone is not being truthful in this group.

What the fuck is this Macbeth shit?! First the fucking three apparitions, and then a Lady Macbeth quote! What the hell! What's next? No one of woman born can kill me? I already know the loophole for that.

A firm hand grips my shoulder and roughly throws it back, so I would face them. I close my eyes for a second to regain my stability, since whoever did that was not fucking around, then look up to see who did it. Oh, no. It's Takeo.

I immediately take a step back, not knowing what his motive is, but he gives me a small smile. His body language reading that he was comfortable like we were the bestest friends in the whole world. I saw that deteriorate when he put his left foot forward and his right hand back, balling it into a fist.

I gasp and clench my eyes tightly closed, expecting a hit to land on me at any moment. It doesn't though. I open one eye to make sure the coast was clear, then open the other one when I see that Takeo is in slow motion. His fist moves at one millimeter per second. I study him with confusion when I hear a voice.

"Now." Evil Richtofen booms from the stairs near us. I move out of Takeo's way and move towards Richtofen, the confusion rising in every step, but I figure he'll explain why he's here. "Every single choice you make or don't make creates an alternate universe of what could have happened." He informs, not even looking in my direction. He was looking above me, observing the statues in front of him. He finally looks down at me with seriousness glazed in his eyes. "This could be a time where you could use that deadly scream. I wouldn't recommend doing that though." His faces morphs from serious to cocky. Like when you know something someone else doesn't, and you know when you tell them, they'll be all over you trying to figure out what you're talking about. "You may need that for later.. well, if you want history to repeat itself, that is." He steps menacingly down each step, making sure he took his time on each one to thicken the suspense in the room. He reaches for me and slowly pulls a hand up to my face, petting it. "Besides," he puts his hand down, rolling his eyes while finishing, "you need to stop fighting with your voice. Start fighting with your fists." He positions me in front of Takeo, backing up when he's proud of where I stand. "You can start," he snaps his fingers when saying, "now."

I suddenly feel an immense amount of pain erupt on my cheekbone. "Oh, FUCK!" I shout, spitting blood out of my mouth and onto the floor. With my head still low, I look up, the challenge of Richtofen's words echoing in my mind. "Okay," I mumble quietly to myself, "you want to play? Let's play." I jump up, ignoring my aching face. I put my fists in front of me. "Let's go, big boy."

Takeo tries to punch me yet again, but I catch it midair, twist it, and latch my legs around his neck, letting gravity take the two of us down to the floor. Obviously, though, with the way I positioned myself, he was taking all of the fall. I jump up, bouncing on and off of each foot, feeling the adrenaline rush through me. Takeo gets up on his knees, ready to stand fully, but I don't let him. I land a right hook right into his nose, sending him to the floor again, going in and out of consciousness. What? I don't need this fight to be any longer than it has to be. He picks his head up a tiny bit and looks at me funny. "Aoife?" He asks, confused. What is he confused about? Does he not remember attacking me? I throw my fist in the center of his face again, completely knocking him out.

I take deep breaths trying to calm my racing heart, my aching cheek and knuckles, and to relax myself now that we're done fighting.

"Aoife, what the HELL IS GOING ON?" Richtofen shouts at me while running to the unconscious Takeo, falling on his knees next to him to inspect him.

I respond with an, "I don't even know," then look back to the stairs, seeing Evil Richtofen smiling at me. He nods his approval of the situation before vanishing. I smile to myself as well, realizing that although he may be crazy, there is still some 'normal' Richtofen in him.

Dempsey comes next to me and begins nursing my fucked up hand. Without a single word the whole time, he helps me. But I break the silence with a quiet, "why were you hanging out with him when you knew he wasn't happy with me?"

He looked up at me for a split second before continuing messing with my hand. He mumbles, ashamed, "I was trying to make you jealous." I fucking knew it!

I only nod in response, watching Dempsey's face while he cleaned my hand from Takeo's blood. I sigh, finally happy that the Takeo thing is done with for the moment when something echoes throughout my mind, _"beware King Richard III."_


	10. Chapter 10

What in the flying fuck is going on? Ugh! There's too much going on here. The boys are trying to wake Takeo up, but I got him pretty good.

Let's discuss this though. "Beware King Richard III." That is almost a complete rip off of Macbeth. You know, "Beware Macduff!" It's almost the exact same thing. Then the three apparitions, finally the Lady Macbeth quote. Maybe they're trying to copy Macbeth to give me a hint? I mean, what King Richard III did was kind of like Macbeth.

So if King Rchard III was the past and the past is in the present, someone in the room with me is like a King Richard III? I mean, it'd make sense with what Sam said too. Someone in this room isn't truthful, and they're pretending to be. So I need to beware the King and know that he's a traitor. Got it. I just need to fucking find out who the King is in here.

There's still some questions I have out there though. "Some." Yeah, no. There's a lot of questions I still have. I don't even know what some of those questions are, because I barely know what's going on. When Evil Richtofen came to tell me not to use my deadly scream, he said that would be used later if I want history to repeat itself. Wait.

That's it. That's the key I needed! So in my past life in The Crusades with the boys, I killed them all by screaming, right? Well, maybe they're hinting that that's going to happen again if I do what I did in my past life (of course, I don't know how that all ties in with the Macbeth clues). So whatever happened in my past life for me to scream is going to happen again unless I stop it. Sure, there's still a lot of questions left like why did I scream to kill them in the first place- wait a fucking second. Why DID I scream in the first place? If I was anything like I am now, I wouldn't have screamed for no reason. What the fuck is really going on here...

"Aoife! He's waking up!" I snap out of my daze and fall onto my knees next to Takeo. I study his sweaty face as his eyes flutter open, them finding me first.

I tense up, ready to fight again if that's what he's planning on doing. He just stares at me before wearily getting out, his voice sounds raspy like it's a foreign feeling to him, "what happened?"

I look at him with furrowed eyebrows, "what do you mean 'what happened'?"

He looks to the ceiling before dropping his head onto the floor, completely exhausted, "I.. don't remember anything since I got my staff. And why does my head hurt?"

I look around, awkwardly whistling, when the boys give me unimpressed looks. I look back after a moment; I groan, "alright, fine. It was me who did that to you."

He looked at me, the disbelief written in the wrinkles of his forehead. "Why would you do that? What was I even doing?" I sigh before explaining how there have been some voices talking to him via his staff stone. He replies how he vaguely remembers, then asks how I got them to go away.

I chuckle, "I hit you really hard on the head."

He lightly nods before closing his eyes. He sighs, "I was really trying to kill you?"

I nod with a, "mhm." I was acting like this was nothing to freak out over, but it kind of is. I guess I'm not freaking out because now I know that Takeo is okay and wont be coming for me now. So, one suspect can be taken off of the chart.

"Dempsey, what's your damage?" Richtofen suddenly asks after a few beats of silence.

Dempsey looks startled out of his gaze, sweat forming on his face, "uh, nothing. Why?"

Richtofen pauses for a moment before strategically answering, "you looked a little angry, so I thought I'd ask."

Dempsey waves his hand in front of him, dismissing the concern. "No, I'm just a little mad at the fact Takeo was planning to murder Aoife, and that I'm only hearing about this now." He indirectly blames me for his anger.

I halfheartedly smile at the thought that he's getting angry over that, but I try to hide it behind my hair. "Okay, boys. We need to get him somewhere secluded, like the panel room." Everyone nods in agreement, picking him up and walking out of the Dig Site.

* * *

"Bitch, get off of me," I casually remark, shoving a zombie away from us as Dempsey kills it. I'm getting a little used too being around zombies that I'm not even fazed by them. I remember when I played zombies my first time. I was absolutely petrified. I smile finds it's way onto my face at the memory. I remember when I always found Dempsey's character funny and interesting. Original and Origins. Well, I found all of them interesting in their own ways, but Dempsey dug his way into my heart. There was something about him..

We walk through the doorway for the panel room. Of course when I walk through I expect to be in the same room as the four boys, but I'm back at my house. Why the fuck do I keep coming back here?

Richtofen. "What do you want NOW?" I shout as loud as I could, seeing someone walk into the room. I roll my eyes at the figure and walk towards it, about to hit them. But it wasn't Richtofen like I had suspected, it was Samantha. I squint my eyes threateningly at her, "what the hell do you want?" She and her father are both fuckheads.

Samantha raised her hands in surrender, trying to let me know she wasn't here for any trouble. I am. "Now, Aoife. I know you don't like me, but," she chuckles with a smile, "you've got it all wrong about me."

I march towards her while yelling, "now who the hell are you to-" My legs freeze. My arms freeze. I can't move anything. I move my freaked out gaze from my frozen body to her, "what the hell did you do?!"

"I'm only doing this for a good cause." When I scoff, she pleads, "Aoife, please listen. I know you're the best at that." I stare at her pleading gaze for a while, finally deciding she can go on with a noise of agreement. "Okay, good. Now, I don't have too much time. The boys will snap you out of this as soon as they notice you're being weird, so I need to talk quick." She looks around the floor like it would help her decide what to talk about first. "Um.. ah! I- I'm not the bad guy here. Don't scoff, listen. I did not realize my fathers intentions before he revealed them! I swear! That is why I sent myself here, to find an innocent version of my father, so I can set things right. I only want a dad." She stares into my eyes for the longest time, trying to decide how to word the next part. She opens her mouth multiple times, seeing which is the best way to go about this. She opens it one last time, revealing, "Richtofen is dead." Alright, well, she's going to word it very bluntly. "That's the reason he can talk to you. I know he's talked to you. Did he tell you?" She questions vaguely.

I give her the side eye, "tell me what?" I ask her curiously.

"Why you screamed and killed everyone in your past life?"

My face dropped as I looked her dead on. "No! Do you know?" I desperately plea for her to tell me.

She clenches her fists while hissing, realizing and trying to calm down from her mistake. "I shouldn't have said that. Anyways, you need to listen. After you get the four of them out, there's a chain of events that need to happen. But that's kind of pushed down the priority line right now." She awkwardly chuckles, "you almost have all of the hints figured out, Aoife. You just need to put more together."

"Well, maybe if I had more to put together, I would!" I shout at her, her hair blowing back suddenly. Right, my scream is powerful. I forgot.

Samantha's conflicted face is breaking my heart. She doesn't know what to do, and I'm not helping. "You need to know about the past! The key to everything is in the past! Or perhaps," she mumbles to herself, realizing something, in thought before bringing her volume up, "it's right in front of your eyes."

Dempsey's face flashes in my mind. He looks angry; I don't know why. He's yelling at me while marching closer to me, the crown on his head wobbling, but I can't read his lips or hear him. I feel a tear roll down my cheek, but, again, I don't know why. I don't even know what I just saw, but I could feel the emotions in it. Fear, pain, and grief. "Sam," I whimper out, feeling the emotions taking control of me, "I need to know what happened when I killed everyone."

She looks at me in the eyes before walking over and putting a piece of paper in my hand. "I can't do that. But I can give you the last clue."

I gasp harshly when I'm back in the panel room with the four boys. They're all sleeping.. why? I bring my hand up to wipe the stray tears off of my face, but I feel something in my hand. The paper she gave me!

I open it. Huh?

"Five hundred begins it, five hundred ends it, Five in the middle is seen;

First of all figures, the first of all letters, Take up their stations between.

Join all together, and then you will bring

Before you the name of an eminent king.

Who am I?"

A riddle is my last clue? How will this put things together? This riddle is easy anyways. The answer is King David.

"Aoife," I hear Richtofen whisper to me. Not Origins Ricky. Original. I roll my eyes while turning to him.

"What the fuck do you want? I'm TRYING to figure out what the hell happened in the past life, so I can stop it from happening again." I rant while trying to think of what the hell happened that's going to happen again.

"I need to give you one last clue." He pleads, grabbing my shoulder to make me face him. I grab his hand out of fright and flip him over my shoulder. He lands hard on his ass on the ground, groaning loudly. Good thing only I can hear or see him, because the others would have woken up if not. "Why?" Is the only thing he wheezes while on the floor, groaning in pain. Pretty solid question.

"You were there when Takeo grabbed my shoulder like that." I explain with a shrug.

He nods, getting up slowly with an arm in front of his stomach, trying to lessen the pain. "Yeah. That might have been my bad. You didn't know about me being dead yet, so I needed to act the psycho part. But I need to tell you something. Please listen." He sighs before spilling, "you're cursed."

Oh, fucking great! What the hell does that even mean?! "Well? Explain!" I shout when he doesn't say anything for awhile. For some odd reason, my yelling isn't waking the boys up.

"They're asleep, because I put and want them to sleep." He explains, reading my mind. I forgot, he's dead, even though he just told me. He has all sorts of things he can do now. "Anyways, your soul is cursed. You were corrupted back in time. The only way you're.. curse would activate is if a certain soul was near you."

Feeling a bunch of emotions wash over me, I put my hands up to tell him to stop fucking talking for a second. "Hold the fuck on. I am so motherfucking confused about the whole past shit that's now in the future that I have to stop so please simplify this. What the fuck is my curse?"

He taps his fingers together trying to think of how to put this. "Well, you're hearing the dead and screaming shit."

I give him a _bitch-are-you-kidding-me_ look. "You fucking told me in the very beginning that that was a side effect of the teleportation."

"I never thought I'd have to tell you about all of this stuff, so I had to make something up!" He exasperatedly exclaims, throwing his hands in the air to help explain.

"Okay. How the fuck does ANY of this have to do with the past? Plus, everyone's clues fucking suck, because I have no idea what the fuck is going on."

He closes his eyes in anger while sucking in a huge breath, "WE NEED TO GIVE YOU CLUES, BECAUSE YOU NEED TO FIGURE THIS OUT ON YOUR OWN! PLUS, THE PAST IS GOING TO BE REPEATED IF YOU DON'T STOP IT!" He takes a deep breath again, calming down after seeing my petrified face. "Okay, I didn't mean to blow up. What have I told you about the past in our talk at your house?"

I try to recall, the biggest thing coming back to me would be, "when I screamed and killed everyone in our past life. But why would I? You never told me why."

"Think. Think about every single clue you were given."

".. okay." I sigh, trying to think of everything that has happened before letting out, "I was told to beware King Richard III. Then I was called Edwina. Finally, the King David riddle was given to me," I felt like a puzzle was starting to come together in my mind. The big picture was almost created. I just needed the last pieces. "I know about their history; I've read about it. No one knows how any of them died though. They and everyone in a 50 mile radius died from a mysterious way.." I slowly finish, my face reading total disbelief. I was broken. I was distraught. "It was one of the most unsolved mysterious things about history."

Richtofen picked up that I was putting it together, and slowly walked towards me with his hands out in front of him. A small hint of a prideful smile was on his face. "How did they die, Edwina?"

He used the name on purpose to ignite the memories in my mind. I feel my heart shatter in my chest as the familiar sting of tears comes from behind my eyes. Memories that I didn't even know were mine were all reaching the surface of my mind as I brokenly whisper, "I did it."


	11. Chapter 11

Richtofen holds his hands out in front of him with a look of sarcasm, "okay, I know you're about to have a dramatic flashback or whatever," he remarks before becoming serious, "but I need you to think about one thing while you're in there: who has always been with you when you've had your 'moments'?"

Realization dawns on me as my face falls and I feel the memories push through the repression. " _Dempsey_ ," I barely whisper.

* * *

 _I was in a nice castle, laying in a big bed. And I mean BIG. It was like I was a princess or something. "Honey?" A man with a crown comes into my room, calling delicately to me._

 _"Yes, father?" Is what slips through my mouth without my command. I'm not the one talking. What the hell? Oh.. it's Edwina.. the past version of me. As a matter of fact, if this is anything like the story in history, I'm the heir to the throne. I actually_ am _a princess. My younger brother (who I ended up finding out was Nikolai) wasn't too thrilled about that, but he said he'd still be by my side._

 _"I only came to say goodnight," he smiles at me, coming over to the bed and giving me a kiss on the forehead before walking back to the door. "I love you. Sleep tight."_

 _"I love you too." I made sure to say it back this time. I usually never said anything when he said that, but I just knew I needed to tonight. No matter what it was, he needed to know that I didn't hate him._

 _His smile grew wider and more genuine making me give one back. "Have a good night, princess." I nod and repeat what he said to himself, adding something about keeping safe. He looks a little thrown off by the comment but nods. Even_ I _don't know where it came from._

 _I lay flat in my bed, letting my eyes flutter shut._

* * *

 _For some reason, I was in my fathers room. My father was standing in front of his balcony, looking out onto a kingdom when a silhouette suddenly comes out from the shadows. Suddenly a bunch of voices started whispering frantically to me, but I wasn't paying attention to that. I was paying attention to the fact that my father now lays on the floor with a pool of blood under him. He looks to where I am and whispers as if his murderer wouldn't hear him, "thou mayst revenge."_

 _His murderer yells for him to stop talking and lands a fatal blow to my fathers head. The whispers become unbearable when I finally decide to silence them with a scream._

 _I shoot up in my bed, screaming at the top of my lungs, almost reassured that every single person in the kingdom heard my wail. I finally end my keen, realizing what it was for now I could hear what the voices were saying. "Your father has been vanquished by a traitor. Catch 'em. Kill 'em."_

 _I ignore the last half of the statement, too overwhelmed with he first half. My father has been killed by a traitor? Who?_

 _Tears run carelessly down my face as I sprint throughout the castle, trying to find anyone who's awake. That's when I hear my little brother talking to someone in my fathers room. Oh, no. He found the body before I could._

 _I burst into the room in hysterics, screaming and asking where our father is when I find him onto the floor, the pool of blood surrounding him like I saw in my vision. It's terrifying to see it in person, but it's even more terrifying that I cant control what I want to do. I'm Aoife trapped in my past self, Edwina. I can't control what I do, but I can only watch, so I will watch every single detail._

 _I fall onto the floor in complete and utter agony, full blown sobbing, not believing that I saw this happened before it did and that I couldn't save him. I guess all this curse is for me to find the dead bodies. Tears completely cover my face as I hyperventilate on the floor under my little brother. "How did you even know this had happened?" My uncle asks from behind me. I, Aoife, feel a growl deep within me, because I know that voice. I turn towards my uncle with my eyebrows furrowed. I, again, Aoife, feel my eyes widened at the side in front of me. My uncle in my past life was Dempsey. What the hell?_

 _"What are you talking about?" I ask him, confused. His defensive attitude didn't shift. In fact, it got stronger._

 _"I'm talking about how you know about your fathers whereabouts and ho-"_

 _I get off of the ground, not bothering to fix my hair or face. I poke a finger in his chest angrily, "you're going to point fingers at me? For what?" I exclaim._

 _Other people had come into the room, all concerned on what the commotion was. They all probably woke up from my scream. I don't feel bad, though, that's what my scream is for. To warn others about things. "How did you know of your fathers whereabouts? It's a simple question, Edwina."_

 _I take a step back, suddenly feeling very small. My voice doesn't come out that way though. It comes out the way a royal member is supposed to talk. To demand attention and respect. Authoritative. I take a deep breath before revealing, "I had seen it in a vision." It was a bold accusation. I probably shouldn't have said it, but I cant change what I said. It's in the past now. "I was the one you all heard screaming. I knew of my fathers death before it was to happen. I also know the one who committed the crime is in this very room."_

 _"Yeah, you." My uncle quickly points out, the same authoritative tone in his voice like I had before._

 _"Hey, come on, Richard," my brother (remember, it's Nikolai) says calmly from behind me to our uncle. Wait a fucking second. King Richard III is our uncle? He fucking murdered his brother for the crown!_

 _"What? 'I had seen it in a vision'," he mocks while scoffing. "Sure, Edwina. You're just power hungry. You needed the crowning to come sooner, didn't you? So you killed your own father."_

 _"I'd NEVER!" I shout at the top of my lungs, frustration building in my chest when I realize everyone is believing my uncle over me. "You could've kill him too; I said anyone in this room. You'd always been jealous of father. He was the oldest. So, he got the crown. You never let that down, did you?" I look him deep in the eyes, seeing them crack a little bit, showing his intentions a little bit. I take my glare off of him and put it on everyone else in the room. "Well, if you want a terrible leader and a terrible kingdom," I wave my arm in front of my uncle, presenting him like an item, "be my guest." I sprint out of the building, no destination in mind. Only knowing that I needed to leave before Richard could kill me. He brutally killed his brother without a second thought, so who says he couldn't do the same to his niece?_

* * *

 _George, who I immediately recognized to be Richtofen, had found me running around the kingdom, unnoticed. Obviously, I was noticed, but I trusted George. He had let me stay at his home with he and his son. I told George why I was on the run, and he listened. He revealed at the end that he was there for the whole entire thing and that he understood my side of the story more than Richard's. I nodded, and he continued to explain why he thinks it was Richard and how he believes what I'd said in seeing it in a vision._

 _Eventually, after we knew that his son was safety put to bed, we decided to go out for a walk after dinner. We were walking and continuing our conversation about the fuckery that was going on in the castle. Oh, maybe I shouldn't put a swear word because we're back in olden times and they didn't say fucker. It would be cool if they did though._

 _George suddenly stops moving, putting an arm out in front of me to stop me too. "Do you hear that?" Oh, I hear it. The bushes near us are rustling, but there's no wind out here. It too much of a rustle for an innocent little squirrel. There was someone near us._

 _Out of nowhere, a man (who I realize is Takeo) jumps out of the bushes and swings a sword at me. I dodge somehow and reach down to grab a loose branch on the ground. I pick it up and put it in front of myself protectively. Don't think I'm a dumbass, it's not like I could pull a sword out of my ass, so I need to improvise. I swing it menacingly in front of me when Richt- I mean, George gets in front of me and clashes swords with the Takeo, or whatever the hell his name is here._

 _They fight it out for a while until Richt- I fucking mean, George slays him. Takeo falls to the floor, dead. A little anticlimactic but I'm not good at describing this shit._

 _I stare, stunned at Takeo's dead body on the floor, my jaw on the floor with him. "I-I I think I'm going to leave the country." I announce to George._

 _He nods while taking deep breaths, trying to regain his usually calm stature. "Yeah, that sounds like the best idea."_

* * *

 _Now, I'm chilling in another country. Edwina never really said what country, but I have to see and travel where she is, because, you know, she's me._

 _But, of course, I'm dragged back into everything when my little brother, who is Nikolai to me, busts into this shit, telling me I need to come back. Listen, I know I said I shouldn't swear, but I can't not swear. Anyways, he busts into my room shouting about how I need to come back. "The kingdom is in shambles! We need you to come back and rule it, Edwina! Uncle isn't a good ruler like he thought he'd be."_

 _I stare at him with squinted eyes to create suspense, ya know? Maybe he'll think that I'm not gonna come back or whatever. I stop and shrug, "sure, let's go."_

 _"Wait, wait, wait! That's it?" Nikki questions with confusion, almost 100% sure I was gonna say no. I nod and start over to him, ready to leave._

 _I loop my arm with his and give a big grin, him still looking down at me in confusion. I ignore it. "Ready to go save a kingdom?"_

 _He stares blankly until a grin breaks out on his face too, "I'm ready."_

* * *

 _"You'll never win,_ Uncle _." I taunt as we walk around in a circle. He has a sword in his hand, but I have nothing. Not too much of a disadvantage. He was the one to teach me how to fight hand to hand, so I know his weaknesses._

 _"How cliche of you,_ niece _," he fires back making me growl. I stop abruptly when I see the fate of this fight. It wasn't anyone else's death, though. I only saw mine. So, why would everyone else have to die with me?_

 _"You will NEVER TAKE THIS CROWN FROM ME!" Dem-Richard III screams, his crown wobbling, while marching towards me angrily. He gets his sword ready to pierce into me. Tears fall down my- well, Edwina's- cheeks as she knows what has to happen to her._

 _As soon as I let out my earth shattering scream, he plunges the sword into me; It goes all the way through me. The pain erupting from my naval becomes unbearable. I stare into his eyes as I continue screaming, it being the only thing keeping me alive. I see the pain shift on his face as sadness flashes in his eyes when he realizes whats happening and what he's done. Even a very, very small hint of fear flashes in his eyes, but that wouldn't matter now that we and the whole entire kingdom are dead._

 _We both fall over together after I'm done screaming, the sword imbedded in my stomach being the thing to connect us together. My dead eyes stare into his, but he's somehow still alive. Of course, he isn't going to survive, but the last thing he will ever see is the crown on his head rolling over to mine, landing perfectly onto it._

 _That's when he takes his last breath_.

* * *

I gasp loudly, being ripped from my memories by Richtofen. I look off into the distance before looking into his eyes. "Yeaah, I have some motherfucking questions." I state with some jokingness in there.

He looks into my eyes with some amusement, "well, I have some motherfucking answers."

I haven't laughed so hard in my life.


	12. Chapter 12

I.. I'm not 100% sure what it is, but I can't seem to calm down. Well, of course I just relived some terrible memories of betrayal so that could be a good possibility as to why my chest has an unsettling feeling in it. I mean, it feels like everyone is putting the weight of the world on my shoulders here, so I can't really keep up right now. I take a deep breath, trying to rid the negative feeling surrounding me, but it only seems to enhance them. "Well, first things first," I start off with my question spree that is about to take place, "how long are they going to be asleep?" I anxiously question.

He catches on to my anxiety, noting my weird shuffling. "As long as I want them to be. Are you alright?" He asks, the concern very evident, trying to get into my line of sight that keeps shifting around the room. I finally look at him when I realize.

"Uhh, _no_. No, I'm not. I'm kind of shaken up right now." I respond, my voice involuntarily shaking. I silently swear at myself for letting this all get to me. I was doing fine before, so why am I freaking out now? My hands cant stop shaking and the crushing feeling in my chest wont stop growing. Is this what it feels like to have an anxiety attack? My knees become weak as I slowly fall onto the ground. I try to stop the continuous crushing feeling in my chest by taking deep breaths, but it still doesn't feel like enough.

Richtofen falls onto the floor with me, panic in his eyes as they search my sweaty face as if he'll find the answer to help me on it. "I-I.. Aoife, what's happening?"

It sounded like a loud echo throughout my pounding head, but I needed to answer. "I.. I think I'm having a panic attack," I think I responded. Honestly, with how messed up I feel right now, I wouldn't be shocked if it didn't come out intelligible. My breathing becomes harder and harder, faster and faster making the tightness in my chest build up. Terrified tears fill my eyes. It feels like this would never end!

Richtofen tries to think fast, throwing out random suggestions to me, "um, think about good things! Like, uh, family, friends-" his cringes hard as soon as he realizes what he said, my glare not helping his embarrassment. I haven't seen my family since I've been fucking stuck here, and I just found out one of my closest friends here is a fucking traitor, so yeah, I don't want to fucking think about it.

I close my eyes to try and lessen the amount of senses I'm using since they all feel like they're overridden; My breathing becomes even harsher. I try to slow it down, but I just fucking cant!

My eyes open wide when I feel lips smash onto mine, effectively closing my mouth. I sat it shock as I realize that Richtofen was kissing me. He was fucking kissing me. It wasn't an innocent kiss either. He had reached his hands to grab my face and pull it closer to him, like I would crumble away if he didn't. Before I could do anything, he slowly pulls away, our lips slowly losing contact. We sat a few inches away from each other's faces. I stare in shock at his lips, not believing that they were just on mine a second ago, shuttering breaths escaping my mouth. I move my stare from his lips to his eyes, which were staring right at me. The heavy feeling in my chest had gone away, surprisingly; My breathing was back to normal. I lowly whisper since we are so close to each other that there's no need to talk any louder, "how'd you do that?"

He bites his lips together anxiously, "I- well, I'm a scientist. Because you were breathing in so fast, you weren't letting the carbon dioxide get away making you breath in it accidentally." He responds with a small level of uncomfortableness. Not really uncomfortable with the fact he just kissed me, but.. I don't actually know the exact reason why. "So... when I kissed you," he pauses in between to word everything right, "you held your breath."

 _I did?_ I think as my shuttering breaths become more normal, "O-Oh," I lightly breath out, still high off of the attack. "That's smart of you."

He lightly chuckles while patting my leg, "if I was so smart, I'd tell you to go see a counselor for your anxiety."

* * *

"Okay!" I exclaim now that I'm feeling a lot better. It felt like all of my worries washed away with the.. episode I just had. "Back to the questions at hand." I tell Richtofen, who doesn't even seem fazed about the fact that he just kissed me. Now that I think about it, that reminds me of a scene in Teen Wolf. Except I was Stiles instead of Lydia. But bro, just call me a Banshee with all of the similarities I've been having with Lydia. "You said Dempsey and I were cursed," he nods for me to continue, "what does that even mean? How are we connected by this curse?"

He looks off into the distance, trying to mentally form an explanation for my question. "Well, the curse you two have that connect you is whenever your souls meet, they get corrupted. His more than yours, I'd say. You only get the sensing death and screaming stuff. He gets a whole new evil personality. Like in the Crusades, did you notice that before he died, he had a look of guilt?" He asks me. I nod. I did notice it. I only thought that he was guilty that he had to die with me. "It was the real Dempsey coming out at the end."

My eyebrows furrow at the information, "so, how do I fix this? You said that the past will be the future if I don't solve it, right?"

He sighs, "yes, well.. The biggest part of the curse is you two are supposed to die together whenever you meet. The souls will try to do whatever they can to make that fate. But again," he mumbles with a hint of a smirk, "Free Will wasn't created for nothing."

I look around the room while my mind pieces things together, "sooo.. one of us can't die in order for the future to not be broken?" I ask.

"Yeah." He answers simplistically. I mean, this was a lot more simple than the fucking Macbeth shit, so I'm okay with it. "The thing is, if you didn't know about anything in the past life or about the curse, you'd just fall into the same cycle of: meet each other, corrupt each other, kill each other." He pokes the table with every next syllable, "you need to fix it."

I nod with a look of a challenge in my eyes and a smirk to match, "I will."

* * *

"ALRIGHT, BOYS! WAKEY WAKEY, EGGS AND BAKEY!" I shout in the panel room, the result is all of the boys groaning loudly. I roll my eyes while clenching my teeth, annoyed that they aren't listening to me. "Get the FUCK UP!"

"Yeah, yeah. We are," Nikolai mumbles while getting up. Isn't it adorable knowing that he was my younger brother in a past life?

After all of them are done yawning and shit, they all circle around me, asking what is going on. I give a giant smile before turning to Dempsey, the smile continuing. "We need to get the Wind Staff for him."

A smile appears on his face as well when he cheers, "let's do it!"

He looks away to the other boys as they cheer for him as well, happy he can finally join the Elemental Staff Club. Knowing no one is looking at me, I smirk. It's so much fun knowing things you're not supposed to.

* * *

I grunt as I kick a zombie away from me, noticing Takeo slice it in half while I turn away to shoot another zombie. The boys and I all fight the unsuspecting horde, back to back. Takeo and Nikolai are the ones next to me as Dempsey and Richtofen are on their sides.

I swipe kick a zombie in the face, killing it instantly. I then jump onto another zombie, stabbing him in the head with a knife a found laying around. It has some cool engravings too, so that's a fun bonus. "Boys!" I exclaim while elbowing a zombie in the head, again, instantly killing it. They all yell their signal that they're listening. "We need to make a path to the Wind Tunnel!"

They make another noise as we all fight out way to the Wind Tunnel.

BAM! I feel a sudden pain on the left side of my head, hearing a loud, high pitched ringing in my ear. I growl and rip my new knife out of it's holder, throwing my arm in the direction I felt the blow come from. My knife swipes in the air, the glow of it making me smirk. Instead of piercing a zombie like I had planned, I feel a hand grab my arm tightly, stopping me from hitting them. The grip on my arm tightens suddenly making me look at the culprit with pain in my features. Whoever it is needs to lighten off.

Dempsey.

I rip my arm away from him, twirling the knife in my hand then back into its holster when I realize no more zombies are out. "Watch where you're swinging that thing, princess."

A cold sweat breaks out onto my face once I realize what he just said. "W-what did you just say?" I feel my breathing mellow out as fear strikes me.

His eyebrows drop in confusion, "what are you talking about?" He asks before realizing what he said, "oh! You mean 'princess'? I've always called you that." He chuckles, winks, then walks away into the Wind Tunnel with the others.

My mouth opens many times in shock, not believing that just happened. He sounded serious, but I can't be too sure anymore. Does he know about the past life? Or does he only know about wanting my destruction in this point in time?

I take a deep breath, throw my hair behind my back, and march into the Tunnel with my head held high. I can't show that I'm suspecting him or else he will try to end me sooner. Good thing I'm kick ass at fighting though.

After a while, we- well, _I_ \- had gotten the portal open to Agartha. I sigh and move out of the way for Dempsey to go in and get the stone.

He walks to the portal, almost in range to be sucked in until he turns to look at me, a smile on his face. "Ya know, why don't you come with me Aoife?"


	13. Chapter 13

I smile immediately and nod at him, "I would love to." I strut over to him and grab his hand. He seems surprised at first, tensing when I make contact with him, but he relaxes at my touch. I look at him to confirm if he's ready to go, and he nods with no emotion. I internally roll my eyes at this idiot. So, we step into the portal to Agartha.

Now, don't get me wrong. This is very fucking nerve wracking. I just found out that this motherfucker is corrupted, and he is not going to go back to his normal self until I'm dead. Remember, this was my partner in crime and the one I would go to first for anything. Now I don't want to be alone with him without feeling the need to have my hand on my new knife. Yeah, I know. 'But Aoife, you could've said no to him and then you wouldn't be in this predicament.' Bitch, that's a huge ass lie. If I said no, then THAT would be when he suspects that I know something. I've been doing all this crazy and random shit alone with him, so why wouldn't I randomly want to? That is the reason I had to go.

The tunnel of blues and whites end and we finally land in Agartha. And by landing, I mean we both fall, hard as shit. I hiss at the contact my forehead made with the floor before I groan while pushing myself off of it, seeing Dempsey do the same. "Oh, fuck. That hurt," I wheeze out. I could barely push myself off of the floor, but I refused to look weak in front of him. I finally got myself up and looked to him, finding that he is glaring harshly at me.

My eyes widen slightly as my heartbeat picks up. Oh, for fucks sake. Don't make this be the time he tries to kill me. That would make the book end too early. I open my mouth to ask him what was wrong, but he beat me to it. "You know, I've been meaning to ask you something. But you always seem so.. what's the word.. disinterested in me." He gets out quickly, the aura surrounding him making my already racing heart pick up more. He coldly chuckles, "I always hear you talking to or about Richtofen, and it really bothers me." He looks me dead in the eye, no doubt reading the fear that's planted in mine. He frowns, walking to me while asking, "aw, am I scaring poor little Aoife?" I choose not to say anything, not knowing what will happen if I answer wrong. He pretends that I nodded to him, continuing, "well, that fucking sucks doesn't it." He stomps closer to me making me back up until I hit the wall suddenly. I'm fucked. "I just don't get what's up with you. You shouldn't be so afraid of me. I'm Dempsey, remember? The one who found you in the first place," he was in front of me at this point, using a fake sweet voice. I look down to avoid his eyes, but he slams both of his hands next to my head making me jump and look up at him, tears forming in my eyes. "The one you did all of the stuff with. The one you first told about knowing everything." He scoffs before growling into my ear, his sweaty face rubbing onto mine like a cat does with their property, "so, why do you still end up going to Richtofen for things, hm?"

I slowly move one of my hands to where I have my knife, talking while doing it to reassure him I'm not throwing him to the sidelines. "I don't know what you're talking about, sweetheart. It's always been you." I purr into his ear, feeling a grin creep onto his face at my words. He pulls his head back, only to put his forehead onto mine.

His insanity filled eyes stare deeply into mine. I tried with all of me to hide the fear from my eyes, knowing he wouldn't believe my act if I didn't. "Good," he whispers, possessively. He moves his head so he can kiss me, but I pull mine back and head butt him as hard as I possibly could.

DAMN! That shit hurts! Never fucking head butt someone, I am telling you right now. Anyways, he stumbles backward, trying to catch anything to steady him again. He doesn't find anything and falls on his ass. He grunts while reaching his fingers to his forehead, "what the fuck, Aoife?" He exclaims at me, looking me in the eyes with confusion. No insanity in them. That's a good sign. "Why did you do that?"

"What are you talking about?" I ask, pretending to be innocent.

He gives me the look, indicating that he isn't fucking buying it. "You just fucking head butted me." He groans again, closing his eyes as a sharp pain seems to hit him. "You know what? I don't care at the moment. Let's just get the stone and get out of here, yeah?"

I frantically nod, happy that he didn't question me on it yet. "Yeah." I run over to the stone, grab it, then run back to him. "Can you stand up?" I ask, wrapping my arm around him to help him up just in case. He shrugs it off though.

"I can do it myself." I always knew he was that kind of person. The 'I don't need anyone's help; I can fucking do it myself.' Sure, Linda.

I raise my hands in surrender as he gets up. I let him walk into the portal first, so Richtofen or whoever can help him out. I sigh when he's gone while looking into the rest of Agartha and the place where that shit just went down. "What the fuck just happened?"

* * *

Pacing around the panel room alone, I think about what just happened. Dempsey should not have 'woken up' from his little insanity moment. I thought he was fully corrupted. Is he not all the way there yet or is there something keeping him from being fully taken over?

I don't know, but I do know that if something like that happens again, I at least know when he's insane. His eyes become insanity filled and darker looking, and like the typical actor playing a psycho, he can't 'conceal' his sanity- or lack of- and shakes or twitches.

Wait. What if he's acting like he's normal? What if he's acting like he was insane?! What if he isn't the corrupt soul? Well, that wouldn't be possible, I saw it for myself who he was in our past life, but I don't even know anymore. Everything is so fucking confusing that I do not know what to do.

While the other boys go fix and talk to Dempsey, I'm going to sneak out and get the Wind Staff parts. I need time alone to think.

* * *

Gasping hard, I run away from a foot print, my fate possibly being crushed my the big ass foot on the big ass robot. I fling myself out of it, panting as I hit the ground, jumping when the robot (Odin) slams his foot down next to me.

Thanks, Jesus. I knew I wasn't dying, but it was still fucking scary. Anyways, I only need one more Wind part, but the robot I'm trying to get it from is being an assbag. Whatever, I guess I'll have to wait until he comes back. I walk through the foot print that was just occupied with a hUGE ass foot, because I want to go over to Generator 4. I don't know; It's kind of like my safe spot. In the game, I would constantly find myself over there.

I sigh as I make my way though the mud, really wishing I got the last Wind Staff part. It's fucking annoying because I'm going to have to wait a long while before I can get the chance of getting the part... again. I go to the table next to the generator and hop on it, deciding to just chill for a minute or two. I've been running around this whole entire time, the only time I got to rest, 'Evil' Richtofen visited me in my sleep, so I didn't feel very rested.

I close my eyes, enjoying the thought of nothing bothering me. No one is going to bother me.

Yeah, that's a funny joke. "I'm sorry to interrupt," I roll my eyes and open them to look at where the voice came from. I've never heard it before. "But I couldn't help but hear your questions to yourself earlier." A man speaks with a soft smile on his face. He was holding the last part to the Wind Staff, too!

He was an older man. He held himself confidently and had a sense of pride in him. Maybe even arrogance. "I'm sorry to bother you with my worried thoughts," I slyly remark, not trying to be rude but say enough for him to get the hint.

He chuckles wholeheartedly. "I always knew you were a funny girl."

I give him a tight smile, "that's great, but who the hell are you?" I ask him, showing him that I do not have time for any of this fucking shit.

"Just call me Dr. Monty." He offers a polite hand to me (and the Wind part), which I take. "I thought maybe I'd introduce myself to you. And _only_ you." He makes sure he repeats that threateningly, "I don't want the boys to know of me yet."

My brows furrow, "yet? So they will eventually?"

He nods, "yes, but I can't have them knowing of me. It will ruin... future plans," he answers plainly. I decide not to press although I'm curious as hell.

"Okay. So, you only came to introduce yourself or do you actually have something to tell me?"

"Yes." He replies with a nod, again, before continuing, "Dempsey is not fully corrupted. He is sort of on his way to full corruption, but he is also holding on to his normal self unintentionally and subconsciously." He has a look of thought, trying to put it together in his mind before he tells me anything. "He has something in his life that brings him back."

A questions immediately forms in my mind. "But that didn't happen in his past life. He gave in quickly, or whatever. What could be different here?"

He laughs for an unknown reason, and I take offense even though I don't know why. "What was he to you in the past life?"

"My uncle."

"What is he now?"

My face drops as I think about it.. I don't know. Insane Dempsey was into me, but I'm not so sure about sane one. Insane actions are sane thoughts? Yeah, that is not the saying at all, but I don't know man. "I'm not sure if I'm going to be honest."

He laughs again making me frown. "You're so oblivious, aren't you?"

I squint my eyes at him, annoyed, "well, I kind of have more things going on than the rest of them do."

"That's the problem." He responds as if something just went off in his mind. "You know who the serpent is, so you need to tell the others about the problem at hand."

"When?"

"Aoife!" I snap my head in the direction I heard the boys yell.

"Now."

I turn back to Dr. Monty, only to find he isn't there anymore. "Really, Monty?"


	14. Chapter 14

I growl while looking at the place Monty once was. I don't know who this Monty guy is, and it's actually kind of bothering me. I know everything about this map and about the zombies storyline, but I don't know this man. Maybe he was someone from the next game (Black Ops 3)? He did say he would meet the boys in the future.

"Aoife!" I hear from behind me making me spin that way. "There you are! We've been looking for you!" It was Dempsey that was talking to me, but.. he looked extremely different. Obviously not enough that I couldn't recognize him, though. He looked like his 1.0 self, so he was familiar in my eyes. The boys, not so much. I looked at Ricky, Nikki, and Tak to see if they all saw what I was seeing and I wasn't having one of my moments. They were all giving me _the look_ , indicating they saw it too. "Oh! You have the Staff parts, too!"

"Uh-" I get out without realizing before blinking multiple times and putting a big (fake) smile on. "I mean - Yes, I do! Ready to go get your staff?" I ask with pseudo-pep to hide my confusion. I was kind of talking to him like a puppy or kid. Oops.

He gasps with a grin, running to hug me tightly like he was afraid of losing me. I wrap my arms around him like he did me and mouth behind his back to Richtofen, _what the fuck is going on?_

He and the others shrugged their shoulders at me, the same amount of confusion on their faces. Maybe even more, because they had no idea what was going on. Mission Macbeth was classified from them.

I roll my eyes and pull Dempsey off of me, smiling kindly at him, him reciprocating it. "You... do realize whats going on around you, don't you?"

"Yeah," he responds with his eyebrows furrowed, "why wouldn't I? We've been killing these freak bags trying to help Richtofen with.. whatever." He comes closer to me to whisper, "any reason why he and the others look different though?"

My jaw was completely on the floor. No one knew why, I assumed from the looks I was receiving, but I knew. This was not our Dempsey. This _is_ 1.0 Dempsey, aka the Dempsey from Evil Richtofen's universe. Why/how is he even here? I pick my jaw off of the floor though, ready to fix this situation. "Um - do you mind if I talk alone with them?" I ask Dempsey, pointing at the others. He shrugs and nods. I flash a smile at him before I proceed to run to the others and hit them in the arm, "what the fuck, guys?"

Richtofen holds his arm where I hit him with a light scowl, "hey, don't look at me! I have no idea how that happened. He was normal when we were walking over here, but we only noticed he was different when he ran past us to you." He explains. ? Why wasn't he paying close attention to him in the first place? Well, they don't know about the whole him wanting my demise and shit, sooo.

I huff at my own thoughts betraying me before turning around to Dempsey with a smile. "Alright, sweetheart. Come here. You and I are going to talk." I motion with arm for him to follow me.

He wiggles his eyebrows at me with a smirk, "oh, 'talk', huh?"

I try to hide the grin that was to make it's way to my face from his immature joke and maintain my professionalism. It's definitely 1.0 Dempsey alright. After we had gotten away from the other boys, we decided to walk and talk. "So, what's the last thing you remember before seeing me?" I ask, putting my eyes on him for a minute, watching as he stares at the mud we walk on in front of him.

He opens his mouth to answer but nothing comes out of his mouth as his face drops in confusion. I'm not entirely sure if it was confusion, though. "I - I actually don't remember too much."

I didn't plan hiding my confusion, though, "then how did you know about the staff's?" Might as well call his shit out. 1.0 Dempsey would shit his fucking pants if he knew anything from this storyline.

I had stopped walking in front of him to let him know this was as now an interrogation. I raise my eyebrows threateningly, expecting an answer. He gives me a smile; His innocent face drops into a sinister smirk. "Oh, princess. You _really_ shouldn't have asked that." He taunts through a smirk. His smirk fades into an angered frown as he lifts his fist to hit me.

I gasp and shield my head for the blow that's about to come, but I feel nothing hit me. Not this shit again. (I'm referring to the time when Takeo was gonna hit me, but Richtofen stopped time. Ya feel? Oh, you remembered that. My bad.) Anyways, I uncover myself and look at my surroundings in astonishment when I recognize where I am. I'm at Generator 4.

"Aoife!" I snap my head in the direction I heard the boys yell.

"Now." I hear Monty from beside me. What. The. Fuck.

I look to where he was in confusion. He isn't there anymore. Just like the fucking first time this happened. Why the fuck is this happening again? Did I accidentally set off an eternal loop? That doesn't make sense. Absolutely nothing I did would make me be stuck in an infinite loop.

I stare where the boys are going to come from and, by no surprise, see 1.0 Dempsey sprinting towards me with a grin. "Aoife! There you are! We've been looking for you!"

* * *

This cycle repeats multiple times, me doing the same thing in fear that I'll mess something up when something comes to mind. Why don't I change what I'm doing? Maybe I'll break this endless loop. Besides, doing all of this is fucking tiring.

"Aoife!" I hear the boys yell for me, again.

"Now," Monty and I say at the same time. "And by no surprise, you're not there when I look," I look and guess what? He isn't there.

"Aoife! There you are!" Dempsey yells while coming closer to me. "We've been-"

"I don't care." I cut him off. He looks at me with widen eyes, full of shock, letting me shove past him to the others. "Was he in the back the whole time?"

They think about it before nodding in sync. Of course! That means they weren't watching him! Richtofen even told me that! Fifteen times.

"YOU IDIOTS!" I shout (reminding myself of Cruella de Vil) before taking off to the panel room where they were. Whoever the fuck that person was, pretending to be Dempsey, did something to the real one while he was behind them. He as in the one from this timeline.

I pant as I sprint, but I can't slow down. I need to change this, because I need to get out of this fucking loop. "Aoife!" I hear taunting behind me. It didn't sound like a human behind me; It sounded disembodied. "I'm going to catch you!"

I burst into the door of the panel room, my full intention is to get Dempsey out of here. "Dempsey!" I shout, slamming the door shut to buy me some time from the fucker chasing me. I hear a muffled shout from where the old panel machine is. I sprint over there, spotting Dempsey tied up in the corner with a rag in his mouth. I gasp and whip my new knife out and get to cutting the ropes. "What the fuck happened, Dempsey?" I ask after removing the rag from his mouth, maybe with a little more force than I needed.

He grunts from my sudden movement but answers anyway, "I don't know. Richtofen was helping me and then I remember some guy knocking me out and tying me up." He mumbles in and out of consciousness. Yeah, he had some blood on his forehead, so that's definitely how 1.0 got him.

I get his hands undone, so he can help me with his feet when I hear the door get kicked in. 1.0 is not fucking around; I can hear him panting heavily.

I hear sick cackling followed by a conceited tone, practically singing his words as Dempsey and I look at him in slight fear, "so, you thought you'd just get rid of me and this loop, huh?" 1.0 Dempsey remarks as he slowly steps towards us. We both get to work faster of getting his feet untied. "Think again, princess. I'm not going anywhere," I hear him mumble into my ear, but I somehow knew he wasn't behind me.

I finally got the tie cut off of Dempsey, so I helped him up. He surprisingly let me help him his time. That's not right... he would never do that. The blood on his forehead makes me sad, and he is limping. What exactly did 1.0 do to him? "Are you sure about that?" I ask with a sudden boost of confidence. I could feel Dempsey (2.0) burn holes into the side of my head.

A flash of interest crosses 1.0's face, an eyebrow hopping up. "I'm positive." Don't be.

I purse my lips, feigning thought. "Well, ya see.. I can do whatever I want here."

His arrogant aura slowly drops, being replaced by fear. "W-why do you think that?" He stutters, losing his dominance.

"I think that, because you aren't real." I stare at him when I say it, establishing my dominance. I slowly let go of the Dempsey next to me, "and he isn't real either." The real one wouldn't let me help him. Something small to base my claim off of, but it's working.

"I'm not real, huh?" 1.0 asks while stomping menacingly towards me. "What are you gonna do: kill me? I don't think so... _princess_." He rose his fist again to hit me, but he suddenly stopped moving, staring into my eyes with pain, looking down to his stomach which was now pierced with my new knife. I twist it 90 degrees, watching as blood drips from his mouth.

I get close to his ear, voice cracking as I whisper, "you aren't real." I push him off of me onto the floor. When he makes contact with the floor, he disintegrates. I stare at where he used to be in sorrow. And to think, I loved that Dempsey. At least I have mine.

I look behind me to see if Dempsey was there, but I see I'm at Generator 4. Wait, what? I thought I just fucking beat that shit, man!

"Aoife!" I snap my head in the direction I heard the boys yell.

"Now," I whisper to myself thinking I'd hear Monty with me; I didn't. Monty wasn't there anymore. What the fuck?

"There you are!" I look over to who said that, beyond happy when I see it's my Dempsey. "We've been looking for you! Oh! And you have the Staff parts, too!"

I look to my hands to see that I, in fact, do have them. So, Monty wasn't apart of my vision thing? He was real?


	15. Chapter 15

As the boys and I walk to the Dig Site - noticing Dempsey's concerning looks towards me from my peripheral, I think about what the fuck just happened. So, whenever I have a vision or something along the lines happens, they are supposed to mean something, right? I don't know if it was something "small" like the lightning panel, or if it's gonna be something big like a fucking Macbeth rewrite. But, until I get more information from whoever the hell showed me that, let's think about something else.

Monty said to tell everyone about what was going on. But, should I really tell _everyone_? Then everyone would be too cautious of Dempsey and he'd be left out of shit and feel alone. I don't give a flying fuck that he's planning to kill me, because I know that it isn't the real Dempsey. I know for a fucking FACT that I met the real Dempsey despite what Richtofen said. He said the second we met, he was corrupted, but I don't believe that. When he held me while I was screaming my head off near the panel, he wasn't fucking corrupted. When he looked at me with genuine concern after I screamed for the first time and came running for me, he wasn't fucking corrupted. ...is Evil Richtofen really on my side?

What Monty told me makes me believe my part even more. He said that something was keeping Dempsey from going to full corruption. I'm still not 100% sure what it is, but maybe he realizes that there's a bigger mission. Whatever it is, I hope it will keep him levelheaded until we get out of here, but I think we can all agree that that is not going to happen.

"Alright." I exclaim, creating an echo throughout the Dig Site and making the boys laugh at my childish smile at it. "So, I'm going to assume that no one has the staff parts?"

They all pretend to look to entertain me before shaking their heads. "Nope."

I breathe out a fake sigh, a smile breaking through. "Well, let me do my thing," I mumble, walking around and looking at the crates scattered across the open area full of Element 115. Having it out in the open for anyone to grab or be near is not the smartest thing in my opinion. Even though Element 115 isn't our biggest opponent, it is still a threat.

I turn away from the crates next to the wall to where the boys are when I notice something. On the floor, there's a.. bright blue circle that looks like a whirlpool under some glass that we could stand on. The blue was brighter, yet darker than Nikolai's Ice Staff. I see the blue radiate off of the boys, but they don't seem to see what I am.

I take a few steps towards it with a heavy feeling in my chest drawing me towards it but my mind is arguing against my movement. I cant help the confused words that escape my throat, inadvertently asking the boys a question, "do you see that?"

I feel their confused stare on me as I walk towards the bright floor, mist coming from it like it was very hot or very cold under there. I think they responded to me saying that they see nothing, but I was barely paying attention to them. I could hear it saying something to me and that was my number one priority as of right now.

It slowly became louder like you're turning the TV up making me sit on my knees and put my ear closer to the floor. It stopped.

At least that's what I thought until I heard a man's deep voice bellow, "WAKE UP!"

I open my eyes, and I'm at generator 4. I can feel the tug in my chest return as I feel compelled to walk somewhere. One foot after the other, uncontrolled, I make it to the panel I screamed at and see Dempsey and I. Well, I see myself screaming and Dempsey watching me with a sick smirk on his face before he runs to help me.

I open my eyes, and I'm where I was for the aftermath of my first scream, staring to where Dempsey and Takeo were to come sprinting from. I don't see or hear them..actually I can't hear anything but my sobbing. The tug is back, and my feet decide to move themselves when I don't obey their orders.

I'm in the mud where Dempsey and Takeo came from, and I see Takeo run ahead of Dempsey. He just stands there with a blank look on his face until another sickly smirk rises on his face before putting a fake concerned look on to run to me. _You're just having a moment, Aoife. Don't panic. This isn't what happened. This isn't real._

"Oh, but it is." I hear an arrogant, singsong voice say from behind me.

I growl and turn towards Richtofen, frowning when I can sense that he isn't like the Richtofen I last saw. He's insane again.

"Who says I stopped being insane?" He offers with a lighter and higher tone, trying to mimic a friendly one. "Did you think...that when I died that I would suddenly be cured from my insanity?" He angrily inquires, kind of like he's offended. "Do you not like insane me?"

What the hell is going on? "You're not Richtofen." I state simply, feeling the fear creep into my chest as rain begins to fall heavily on the both of us. By the time I had gotten my next sentence out, the rain already had my clothes and me soaking wet, the weight almost becoming unbearable. "You're not real." I mumble to myself, bringing a hand up to my head to desperately cling onto my hair while closing my eyes tightly, hoping when I open them next that none of this is really happening. I'm at home in my bed having a very, very vivid dream. Yeah, that's it. _I hope_.

"You're so right." I hear a new voice from a few inches in front of me, their voice being loud to speak over the rain that's hitting us roughly. "I'm not Richtofen." I know that voice.

I snap my head up when my brain recognizes who it is. "Dempsey?"

"The one and only."

Well, I don't know if I'd say _that_. This is Dempsey 1.0, so he isn't the one and only because I've been hanging out with 2.0. "You're not real, either. I...you can't be!" I exclaim, lightly pounding the side of my head with a hand still tangled in my hair. Maybe if I hit self hard enough, my brain will realize I want the fuck out of whatever situation I'm in. "I killed you."

A hand shoots out to my throat and lifts me into the air making me clutch Dempsey's hand with both of my own, needing to get him off of me, so I can breathe. A strangled choke escapes me as I stare at him with widened eyes. The rain isn't helping my situation either for it's going into my opened mouth and making me strangle more. "You killed the thought of me." He squeezes tighter making me kick my legs to try and get out of his hold. He brings me down to his face- his hold never faltering- and whispers, "I'm not going anywhere, Princess."

I know I said to never do it, but I had no other choice. I throw my head into his, meeting his nose with my forehead, a loud cry escaping him as he drops me to the floor. I harshly and quickly inhale, trying to take as much air as I possibly can before he can do anything else to me. I jump off of the mud- which was even worse now that it was raining- and back away from his bent over figure.

He stands to his full height and looks at me with pure hate in his eyes, sending shivers down my spine. Blood gushes out of his nose and down his face from the help of the rain, a sickly smile rising onto his face. "Hey, Aoife."

I look at him in confusion, my head tilting to the side a bit. Now he chooses to sound nice?

"Listen."

I open my eyes, and I'm back with the boys. My boys. A smile makes it's way onto my face when I see them, ignoring the concerned look on their faces. "Oh thank goodness. I thought that would never end." I laugh and look over to the Wind Staff holder which makes the smile on my face immediately drop. "Why isn't the staff there?"

"Aoife, are you okay?" Richtofen asks me with a delicate tone, like if he spoke louder, he'd frighten me.

I nod. "Yes...why what happened?"

He looks at each of the other boys, seeming to have a mental talk with each of them before looking at me again. "It's just...you kept mumbling something about...someone trying to kill you."

I let out a breath of relief, confusing and concerning them even further that that was what my reaction was. I thought maybe I accidentally confessed something about Mission Macbeth. "Well, I was having a vision.. and someone was trying to kill me in it.." I trail off at the end- ignoring them again- when I hear rocks falling from the top of the steps and snap my head towards it. I notice from the corner of my eye that the boys stared at me walking towards it and converse with each other, probably about my sanity. Maybe I have been quite off, because I haven't told anyone about Mission Macbeth and having all of this weight on my shoulders isn't fun. But, that's why I'm going to tell one of them so soon.

They're calling my name- not the boys- in the softest tone I've ever been spoken too. Like how a mother would coo to a new born, but I don't get why they're talking to me like this. It was Irish, and I was being told the next step to getting Samantha and the others out of here.

Once I realize their intentions and meaning, I quickly walk down the steps and repeat what I was being told while holding the Wind Staff Stone in front of me like I was offering it to someone. "Céim a Dó: Ascend ó dorchadais."

A bright white light emitted from the Wind Staff holder making me- and the boys- shield my eyes and eventually closing them from how bright it is until it all went away.

I open my eyes, and I stand in front of the Wind Staff.


	16. Chapter 16

I was sitting in peace and quiet, enjoying silence for once. There was always something going on with the boys and I, and it always happened to be loud. Whether it was only me having one of my moments, I still always had a noise playing in the background somewhere. Even though I felt it was quiet around me, the boys were chatting amongst themselves about anything and everything. Talking about each staff and all of the cool things that they can do, and how they don't have to worry about zombie's anymore. Sure, they didn't have to worry about zombies. I didn't either, but I still had to worry about Dempsey. And that was something unbearable resting on my shoulders.

I was sitting back on the stairs with my eyes closed, figuring this is the closest thing I'm going to get to sleep right now when I realize something. It's quiet alright, but it's a little too quiet. Something is coming.

I shot up in my place in a hurry, pointing my ears to each exit, so I could listen. Maybe even listen in the way the other boys can't.

A sirens warning pierced the air followed by a huge thud on the roof making everything besides itself become silent.. again. My eyes flick around the room as I try to map a way out of here as the thump slowly got closer. "Aoife, what was that?" I barely registered that anyone had spoken to me in my rush to get us out of here until the question is repeated.

I grab the hair tie off of my wrist and put my hair up in a tight ponytail, so it wont fly out while I do some sweet shit. I sharply turn to the boys, making them flinch back. "There isn't much time. You boys need to get up on those rafters right now." I get behind them and push them towards the rafters in haste. "Do not question me, and do not hesitate. Get on that first rafter, then stay there until I say otherwise." I shove them a final time - feeling the stomping become closer - before quickly making my way down the steps and putting a crate full of Element 115 in it's designated spot under a (semi-hidden) rafter for my escape.

"Aoife, what was that?" They repeat with urgency in their tone, a light hint of fear in it as well. Whether it was fear for them or for me, I don't know.

I sigh some of my anxiety out, looking at the rafter they now stood on like I told them to. At least they can listen to some part of my request. "What did I say about questions?" I sarcastically and quietly comment, finally hearing the stomping again. I had lost it for a second - making my already pounding heart almost break out of it's cage. "But, since you guys followed my instructions so well, I will tell you." The thumping comes closer from my right side - their left. "The Panzersoldat is back."

I whistle a little tune loudly, so the ass bag can hear me and come for me instead of the boys. "Why can't we use our staff's?" Dempsey asks, his tone sounding more irritated then anything.

I open my mouth to answer him when I hear a click followed by a hissing sound behind me. I quickly duck to the floor, barely missing a grapple hook that shot out of the Panzersoldat to capture me. When the hook retracts into the Panzer-douche's mechanical body, I unfold myself and face the 10 foot tall asshole who decided to sneak up on me. I stare at him with widened eyes when he points the flame throwing arm at me. I barely roll out of the way, landing behind a few crates of Element 115. That's it! I need to make it to where I put the other crate! "BOYS!" I scream, a small part of me hoping that they weren't there and ran, but my hope died when they yelled back in panic. The stomping of the Panzerdouche make my heart rattle with each thud. "Run out of here! I will be safe; I promise you guys!"

The stomping got closer, and I could faintly hear the boys argue before their own stomping feet were heard. The Panzer hit the highest crate off of the stack I was hiding behind and I could hear him point his flamethrowing arm at the stack. So, I waited at the last possible second until I ran to the crate I had placed diligently. I put a mobile foot on it to launch myself forward and upward, feeling my outstretched hands latch onto the wooden ledge of the rafter, and I pull myself up quickly.

I didn't waste my time with looking back where the ass bag was; I only listened. I ran forward throwing my body up to reach another rafter, yanking myself up again. The Panzer-dick had heard the commotion I was making and started following, except he was on the normal path. As I sprint, I think. _I need to make it to the end of my path before he makes it to the end of mine or else I'm screwed_. With that thought in mind, I pushed myself even harder to run.

I made it to the end way before the Panzer-ass and jumped off of the end to the floor. I lost my balance with my land and fell harshly. I yelled in pain at the contact my shoulder make with the floor - all of my body weight landing on it wasn't a good thing. At least I don't need to a shoulder to run, so I picked myself up and ran up the freedom gaining sets of stairs until I was outside of the Dig Site. I pant heavily while looking around for which ways the boys went. They could have gone plenty of places. Generator 5, Generator 3, or- I know where they are.

I regather myself before the Panzer had time to reach me and tear me apart, running in the direction of Generator 4.

When I had made it near the Generator, I could see bright purples, blues, and reds flashing around everywhere to kill the zombies had come out. I told you, the zombies and Panzer-douche come out at the same time. (The Wind staff doesn't produce it's color, because it shoots wind.) I decide to come from behind them, because I don't want to be killed by the Elemental Staff's, yelling my entrance, so they don't get too frightened.

They had cleared all of the zombie's out by the time I had gotten there, but we still had another fucker to go. They all stare at one entrance of the Generator, knowing that's where the asshole is going to come from as I basically face plant behind them. I'm so fucking tired, and I'm in so much fucking pain. As I hear them fire their Staff's, I peel my shirt off of my shoulder, cringing with a frown when I notice that it's out of place alright. The boys are probably going to be pissed at me, but oh well. I push myself up with my non-fucked up arm and walk up to a wall nearby. None of the boys notice anything yet as they are still firing and I'm not getting yelled at.

I take a deep breath to ease the sudden anxiety forming in my chest. I just have to do it and then it will be done. I prep myself a little more mentally before slamming my shoulder into the wall in front of me.

I pull away with a smile, recognizing the satisfaction I felt in my shoulder from when I was younger, "ah, much better." I roll my shoulders multiple times, feeling a lot better. Don't give me that look, I used to dislocate my shoulder all the time when I was young. It was intentional then, but now it wasn't, so it freaked me out for a second.

"Aoife, ar- what happened?" Dempsey interrupts himself while marching towards me and staring my shoulder.

I pull my shirt back over my shoulder nonchalantly. "What are you talking about?" I ask in a pseudo-oblivious tone, a small smirk on my face when Richtofen interrupts our conversation by asking if we wanted to go to the panel room to sleep. "Oh, hELl yEah!" I exclaim excitedly, leaving the both of them behind me as I skip away to the panel room.

* * *

I lay with my good arm tucked comfortably under my head, thinking about shit. Richtofen sits next to me, wide awake and aware that I'm awake. I could tell he was still awake, because he wouldn't stop fidgeting. I told him if he wanted to talk about whatever is going on with him, then he could go right ahead.

Dempsey lays next to the wall beside Richtofen and I, facing it. Takeo and Nikolai both lay near him as well, sprawled out everywhere. They are like starfish.

"I want to ask you a few things," Richtofen comments quietly, his breath making my hair move from how close he is to me. I only nod for him to continue. "Remember when we were in here last?" I had to think for a moment, because I had visited this place many times in my visions and shit that I had to pinpoint the one he was talking about. "You know, when we talked."

"Yes," I smile, finally remembering. He built me up when I was tearing myself down. "That was a good talk," I sigh happily.

"I've been thinking about something you said in it." He pauses. "You said that there was a me you knew before you knew of _me_ \- if that even made sense." I nod to him, telling him I understood. "You said he was from World War 2." Again, I nod for him to continue. "There was a Second World War?"

My breath catches in my throat as I sit up quickly to look at him. I hesitate for a minute before mumbling, "are you sure you want to know about it?"

He nods with interest in his eyes, "everything."

I suck in a deep breath, "I don't think we are going to get to everything in this one sitting - Well, maybe with how long Takeo and Nikolai sleep." He chuckles before planting a serious look onto my face, ready for this story. "It all started with the Treaty of Versailles, and a man named Adolf Hitler's hate for it."

* * *

"What the fuck?" He mumbles with pain and disbelief in his voice after I was done telling about the Holocaust.

I sadly nod, "yeah. It was a very, very sad and fucked up thing that had happened."

He looked at me curiously, seeming to want to get his mind off of that piece of information he was given. "When are you from?"

I smile, "the 2000's."

His eyes pop out of his head, "what?! That's a little less than a century away!"

I chuckle while nodding. "Yep."

He takes a deep breath before changing the subject. "In that talk we had last time, you said that there was another..me. How is that possible?"

I liked him being so curious, because I love explaining things to people. It makes me feel like when I tell him about Mission Macbeth that he'll be ready to listen. "Well, there are a lot of things that I still don't know yet, so I will tell you what I know." I smile from ear to ear when I think of something, "a good friend told me that everything you do or don't do will create an alternate universe." He gives a questioning look. "Oh, don't look at me like that. The parallel universe theory has come up multiple times in my life time," I chuckle lightheartedly. It's true, though. I have some interesting debates and conversations with my friends and family. Plus, I've been hearing about it a lot more ever since I've been here. "Don't even get me started on - oh, you're asleep." Honestly, good because I didn't feel like talking about that stuff anymore. I hum with a shrug to myself before laying down with my arm tucked under my head.

I know what you're thinking. 'Why the hell aren't you saying anything to Richtofen? You had the perfect chance!' That's an amateurs mistake, my dear. In a lot of books, the two characters always discuss the plans in front of the bad guy, thinking he's asleep when he really heard the whole thing, because he was faced away so we couldn't see if he was really asleep or not. I don't even hear Dempsey snoring and trust me when I say he can snore pretty loud. Good thing none of us brought it up to him or else he would've pretended.

I don't think I want to say anything to Richtofen. I don't think I want to say anything to _anyone_. I'll talk to Monty about it more when I wake up. Also, I will be asking him some other things. I mean, why did I even need to tell anyone in the first place? I'm the only one who can do something about any of it. Plus, I don't need backup. I got myself out of a very dangerous and very cornered situation with the Panzer-ass. I don't need them! I have myself. Another thing I'd ask though is what the fuck is going on with my visions?

"Aoife," I hear a voice call out to me. It's sounds familiar, but I don't want to get up. I'm too tired. "My Angel of Death, wake up." I ignored it and let sleep find it's comforting ways over me, "WAKE UP!"

I open my eyes, and Evil Richtofen stands in front of me.


	17. Chapter 17

I hear him sigh a breath of relief as I stare at all of my surroundings in a trance. I don't like this place. No. I **hate** this place. "Aoife, I need you to listen to me right now." Richtofen speaks with urgency in his voice from behind me, momentarily snapping me out of my mind. I had spun away from him in my hypnotized state accidentally, unhappy with my surroundings. I was in the castle. THE castle.

A gentle hand finds its way to my shoulder making me sharply point myself to Richtofen, so he wouldn't put too much force on it. It was my bad shoulder ( _and, again, the Takeo thing_ ). I look at his hand still resting on my shoulder while angry thoughts of it's owner filled my mind. I shove it off of me before yelling my thoughts to him. "I thought you went crazy again!" I scream, pushing him in his chest with all of my anger driven might. He stares at my wild eyes in confusion as he tries to catch himself from falling. "I thought you were against me! I - I thought you weren't even on my side to begin with.." I lowly confess ( _maybe I told too much of my thoughts_ ) as the anger shifts into sadness and confusion. _If he was insane the last time I saw him, why is he completely fine now?_

As I look to the ground trying to search my mind for answers that I subconsciously knew only he could give me, he struggles to make a response to anything I said, stuttering multiple times before putting together, "you..thought that I was against you?" I move my stare from the floor to his eyes, something in his voice making me tense in anxiety. I notice the slight hurt in his eyes before they shift from one emotion to the next, so fast that I couldn't place them. I could place the one he finally decided on though. He was _pissed_. "You thought that I was against YOU?! The only one who is TRULY on your side, and you question me? That's the thanks I get?!" I couldn't tear my fearful wide eyes off of him as he screamed at me; His sudden sharp movements making me flinch every time. He has a decent point, but I don't know exactly where he's going with this. He's unpredictable. "I am the one who is trying to help you! The ONLY one trying to genuinely help you!" His hands grip both of my arms with inhuman strength and pulls me hard into his chest as he glares at me, like his livid stare would burn his point into my mind. His chest moves against mine from shaky and deep breaths, fuming. I freeze in his hold - anxiety burning in my chest - not wanting to anger him by moving in anyway. I know he couldn't and wouldn't hurt me. I can sense death, so I know he at least wouldn't go _that_ far. _Why is he so offended?_

After thinking for a second, I abandon my plan to not anger him any further by asking things that I know would rile him up more. I can't really go off of this feeling I have in my chest to prove his lack of innocence. Well, of course, I could, but no police officer, lawyer, or investigator put someone in jail for a gut feeling. So, I'm going to pull some things from his past to help my point and see if he has anything to say about them. Or if his face will decide to betray him and show his true feelings.

"Are you?" I ask plainly, obvious disbelief in my voice and on my face. His eyebrows curve in confusion and his anger calms slightly when he asks what I'm talking about with a shake of his head. "How are you the one trying to help me when you're acting as the Weird Sisters, or the Three Witches, to me?" I coil my head back, still pressed up against him with he rest of my body, but I needed to see him from a better angle to see his reaction. The Three Witches pretty much told Macbeth the prophecy only to see him become fucked up, so I'm kind of convinced that's happening here. Whatever. He hasn't budged so far. So, it's time to crank up the talk to rile him up and possibly reveal something. "How is the sociopathic, Nazi General supposed to be the one I trust in this situation?" I ask like it was the most obvious and easy answer, because it was. His grip had tightened, a hiss emitting from him like he was angry again, but they then loosened on me, holding on to some extent. _Maybe he wasn't angry?_ He looked off to the side, showing some emotion I couldn't pinpoint exactly. _Was he ashamed?_ I slowly pull one of my arms out of his unsecured grip and bring my hand to his face to make him look at me. He stares at me with no emotion, confusing me a tad, but I pressed on. "How is the man who was nicknamed The Butcher supposed to be the one that I trust?"

Before I had any idea what the fuck was going on, I had met the ground with such an exertion of power that my forehead hit the floor below me, a skull splitting pain shooting through my head immediately and a scream coming from my throat. Laying on my stomach, I try to push myself up with a groan, but a knee in my back slammed me into the ground as a fistful of my ponytail was grabbed, yanking my head back into an uncomfortable position against some part of his body. "You have absolutely no idea what you're talking about, Aoife." He growls into my ear, the restriction of his enunciation telling me he was speaking through clenched teeth. I could feel him shaking hard - presumably out of anger - making me even more uncomfortable as he talked to me, "you think you have it all figured out, don't you?" He scoffs into my ear, sending a tingle down my spine. Maybe that was pain from him digging his knee into my back more. "You think that you know Dempsey and you've seen everything to know that he's not that bad? Sure - maybe he isn't fully corrupt, I'll give you that one." He angles my head so he can rub his sweaty face onto mine - what's with everyone in doing that to me? I could feel his nose on my cheek, along with his mouth. He shifted closer to my mouth with his own, coming dangerously close to mine. The corners of our mouths barely touching. "But, the only reason you believe that is because of what you feel for him! So, of course you're going to look for the good in him before you realize," he exclaims - sitting up, loosening up his hold on my back - like he finally realized something. He was piecing something together that I didn't know about. "Aoife, you're whole entire curse is based off of feelings, but not THESE feelings!"

He continues mumbling shit about whatever he's figure out, distracting himself from holding me down. I use this to my advantage and before he knows whats going on, I'm on top of him, my foot on his chest to loosely hold him down. I hope he likes the mud on my shoes transferring to his shirt. "Richtofen, I honestly don't know what the hell is wrong with you, but if you don't tell me what the hell is going on with you and my visions, I'm going to wake myself up from this shit."

He takes a minute but nods eventually, so I take my foot off of him, letting him get up to his full height. "Sit down." I follow his orders, sitting on the King's bed. My dad in the past. Ugh. Why did that have to happen? Why couldn't I save him? Why would Richard kill his own fucking brother? I rub the soft comforter with a sad sigh as I recall a memory.

 _For some reason, I was in my fathers room. My father was standing in front of his balcony, looking out onto a kingdom when a silhouette suddenly comes out from the shadows. A bunch of voices started whispering frantically to me, but I wasn't paying attention to that. I was paying attention to the fact that my father now lays on the floor with a pool of blood under him. He looks to where I am and whispers as if his murderer wouldn't hear him, "thou mayst revenge."_

Tears sting their way to my eyes making me close them while drawing a shaking breath. _I will get revenge for you_.

I jump in my place - and out of my thoughts - when a chair was slammed in front of me. "Oops!" He laughs, "I didn't mean to put it down that hard." His smiling face quickly dropped, snapping his head to me while sitting down at the same time. "No." He remarks sternly.

I give him a look, "no?"

"NO!" He suddenly shouts making me jump again. He closes his eyes and sighs, "you cannot kill Dempsey for revenge of your father that is centuries old." He speaks somberly, feeling the emotions pouring off of me in waves.

"B-but, he said I could get revenge - isn't that what you want me to do in the first place? Kill Dempsey? Kill the serpent?"

"No!" He bellows with astonishment in his tone, "I do not recall every telling you to kill Dempsey!" He sarcastically comments, "besides I think when you killed King Richard III in the past life that you got your revenge - and then some."

I ignore his remark and yell back in confusion and embarrassment, "I thought that was what you were referring to when you said that one of us had to die for the curse.. to end..." I trail off, something clicking in my mind. "You want _me_ to die?"

"No!" That is certainly a motif for him at this point. "I - I don't know! I don't want either of you dying! Hey! Uh - maybe..we could figure something else out, you know? Maybe no one needs to die!"

My mind runs thousands of miles per second - possibly even not running at all - while trying to figure things out. I snap my head to him, tears forming in my eyes when another piece is placed in the scrambled puzzle in my mind. "No, that's been your plan all along." My voice cracks in betrayal as my lip quivers. "The three apparitions - they were a hint. Macbeth saw those apparitions that told him how he was going to die." I let the tears fall, refusing to meet Richtofen's eyes at all as I whimper some of my emotions out, since I can't find the words to describe how I feel right now. "You were giving me a hint that I was supposed to die on the Macbeth Mission." I finally built the courage up to look him in the eyes, making sure none of my pain was hidden in my eyes, so he could see how much he had broken me. "Are you KIDDING ME?" I exclaim, flying out of my chair, sending it into the wall behind me. I lean over him, pointing my finger threateningly at him. "I know you can see what you've done to me." I watch as his eyes crack and show some of his emotions. He's sad, too. For what? Because I found out his shitty plan? I stand up, my shoulders falling in defeat and disappointment. I try to hold back the second wave of tears to come as I brokenly whisper, "you can add this moment to the list of reasons why I can't trust you."

I storm past him to the door of my 'father's' room. I stand in front of the closed door, hoping when I opened it, I would be out of this place. I guess I will label this room as the Betrayal Room, because two acts of betrayal happened. Fuck everything right now.

I sigh while opening the door to see blackness. Well, it's a lot more welcoming than being with 'Evil' Richtofen. So, I run into the ebony abyss with a quote of a.. _certain_ someone echoing throughout my mind. _If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die?_ _And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?_

* * *

A loud gasp escapes my throat as I shoot up into a sitting position, frantically checking my surroundings. I'm back with the boys, and they are all sleeping. Good, because I need to sleep too. I tuck my arm under my head and close my eyes, chocking back the sobs I felt rising in my chest. I could not be weak in front of the boys - even though they weren't awake to see it. I angrily wipe the traitor tears from my face, closing my eyes and falling into a deep, and surprisingly peaceful, sleep.


	18. Chapter 18

"Hey, Aoife, what are we doing next?" I ask, looking over my shoulder to see her from my peripheral when I turn around fully to look at her, noticing she's acting strange. "Aoife?" I tentatively question with wide eyes. Her eyes are wide open staring at nothing and she swaying while walking, looking like..well, a zombie. Her lips are moving too, so I assume she's saying something. Listening in, I'm kind of creeped out.

"I am in blood stepped in so far that, should I wade no more, returning were as tedious as go o'er. Strange things I have in my head, that I will to hand."

I lean away from her, the confusion building up in my chest. I personally don't know what those words mean, but I get a bad feeling from them. Sure, I'm not the one who senses shit like Aoife can, but I don't know. Intuition, bro.

Maybe I should go tell someone who is really smart. "Richtofen!" I exclaim, jumping when I look over my shoulder and see him right there. I put a hand to my chest, "Jesus, dude."

He gave me a look before nodding over to Aoife. I turn and see that she's completely still, staring directly at me. I would've freaked out a little more if I didn't piece together that she was sleepwalking. I used to sleepwalk when I was a kid. "Dempsey, what is going on with her?" Richtofen questions me.

 _Looks like something is going on in the Banshee's mind._. I hear in the back of my head, but I ignore it. I don't have time for it's stupid games right now (and I may or may not know what a Banshee is). I need to know whats wrong with Aoife. "I think she's still mumbling something.. listen. It's pretty creepy."

Richtofen hesitated for a moment before putting an ear near her mouth as Takeo and Nikolai came up from behind me. "What the hell? Is Aoife okay?" Nikolai asks, a type of concern coming from him deeper than a friend.

I went to answer but Richtofen whipped his head towards us with fear on his face. He started breathing heavily while mumbling a bunch of shit to himself, obviously trying to understand what was going on. I decided against questioning him, because I knew he wouldn't want to be interrupted and he'd tell us in a second. That didn't stop me from watching his every movement closely. His pacing was giving me a headache, honestly.

He lets out a loud exclamation, letting us know that he put it together finally. "Sorry," he apologized, finally looking at us. "For the life of me, I couldn't figure out where the hell I've heard what she said from before!"

I hold my hand out in front of me, showing him I'm about to interrupt him, "wait a minute - she's quoting something? What would she know so well that she could recite it in her sleep? It was definitely not an average quote.." I mumble.

"That's the thing." Richtofen said with a hint of a giddy smile on his face. Whatever this was, this man surely loved putting it together. "I don't think it's supposed to be average, because that would be too easy. What if she's trying to warn us of something? Like in code?"

I scoff out my slight amusement in his words. "Warn us? Of what?"

Richtofen looks lost in his thoughts before replying, "maybe there's a bigger picture here.. I mean, don't you question what is going on here?" He asks all of us with curiosity. I shift my gaze to Aoife who is still standing there like a statue, not moving.

"Yeah," we all nod, but I'm the one who continues talking, "you said that you figured out where she quoted whatever she just said."

"Oh! Yes, yes, yes." A wide grin forms on his face when he informs us, "it's from one of Shakespeare's plays. Macbeth."

Again, I don't know why, but my stomach sank when he revealed that. _Awe.. why not Hamlet? You could be the only one standing at the end, Dempsey. Let me in._ I close my eyes tightly while I will the voice to go away, imagining myself pushing him in the back of my mind.

Richtofen continues, not even noticing my sudden shift. Nikolai noticed though, patting my shoulder in a way saying that he'll be asking me about it later. I slightly nod before returning my attention to Richtofen. "The thing I don't understand is why SHE is saying it, but I'll tell you what it means. She's basically saying that she's walked so far in this river of.. _blood_ that even if she were to stand up, she wouldn't be wading. She'd be swimming." Takeo, Nikolai and I all have confused fear on our faces by he time he's done saying that. "That's not the worst part." Oh fuck. How is THAT not the worst part? "She... She said that she has some schemes in her head that she's planning to put into action."

My heart dropped immediately. I couldn't tear my terrified wide eyes off of Aoife's stiff body. My mind starts racing, trying to win the imaginary race that's going on in my mind. I need - WE need to find out what the hell is going on with her. There are plenty things that I'm utterly confused on when it comes to her and everything surrounding her. She is definitely keeping something from us, and I want to find out what it is.

"So, you said you think it's a code?" I ask Richtofen, only now noticing that he was walking away. He freezes in his spot when he hears me, though.

He comes back to the circle we all inadvertently created, seemingly happy that I asked a question on his theory. "Well..yeah. You don't think that it's a coincidence that she quoted one of the most influential writers of all time? Especially when she's unconscious and she nailed the line perfectly. I mean - not unconscious, but.." he looked at her, all of us following. Yeah, he makes a good point. Her unaware, dead gaze creeps me out. "You guys understand." We all nod.

"So.. what do you suppose it means?"

"Well, the first part.. I have absolutely no idea. Macbeth was talking about how he killed a bunch of people, so even if he wanted to stop, it wouldn't matter. He was in too deep." Richtofen explained, his confusion echoing on our faces. "The last part pretty much states that she has something going on in her mind that she plans on doing." He shrugs like it was nothing.

It isn't nothing. This is something big. She's planning on doing something, and I'm sure whatever Macbeth planned on doing is what she's gonna do. She wouldn't use a quote for no reason. "What was Macbeth planning when he said that?"

Richtofen searched his mind before his faced dropped a little bit, "he said that because he was planning on killing Macduff's family. You know, because Macduff went to England, so he couldn't kill him. He decided to kill the next best thing."

One question came to mind that shook me to the core, "so.. who's the Macduff here?" I look from each person to the next, finding they all have the same expression.

Richtofen broke the moment, "wait, wait, wait! Who says that any of this is even true? Who says that it's bound to happen? I mean, maybe we're over looking things, ya know?" He stumbles over his words, trying to reassure us, but the look on his face showed even he didn't believe his own words.

"I know you don't believe that." I sigh, "we all need to watch out for her and figure shit out from her. Agreed?" I let the question float in the air.

They all nod after a hesitant moment, "agreed."

* * *

We all sat in the Panel Room again, letting Aoife sleep, but she wasn't. She still had that spaced out look with her mouth agape. It looks like terror was frozen on her face. It was like it would never go away.

"No!" Takeo exclaimed - which surprised me, because he didn't talk too much, let alone yell. He frustratedly groaned at all of us. "Guys, I know you all know something is going on here!" He slams a fist onto the table in the middle of us, "I tried KILLING Aoife! I don't even know why! I remember feeling like I was trapped in my mind; I could hear what the voice would think. It kept saying that I was only doing what I was ordered." He looks at us with an expression that almost made me laugh, "what the fuck does that even mean?!"

"Okay, Tak," I wave my hands in front of me to pacify him, "calm down. I do believe something is going on. I just don't think we have enough information to do anything."

"So that means we do nothing?" He exclaims again, "do you not remember when you tried doing something to her too?"

"Hey, not cool, man." Richtofen immediately jumps in to scolds him.

"No, it's okay." I sigh, running my finger through my short brown hair. "I remember. I fucking remember." I felt the anger I had for myself get to me, "I remember the way that I almost hurt her. I remember not being able to control it. I remember looking into her petrified eyes, feeling terrible knowing that I was causing it. I fucking remember, okay?" A hot tear runs down my face as I take a deep breath to compose myself. "So, say we do help her. How? We literally know a small section of the play. Hell - I know almost none of it."

 _No, but you lived it, Dempsey_.

I shake my head at the voice. What does that mean? "Do you I need to tell you guys the whole entire play?" Richtofen asks.

I open my mouth to tell him that I don't really want to hear it, but I would if it helped Aoife. I was interrupted, though. "Dempsey," I heard a quiet whisper from behind me. My eyes widen while I look at the others to make sure they heard it. Their eyes were wide as well, showing me they heard it too, but they were looking behind me.

I gulped and slowly turned around, afraid of what was waiting for me. I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary until my name was whispered again.

"Dempsey," one of the guys whispered, nothing short of fear in their voice. Why is he so scared? I should be the petrified one. "Aoife said that."

My eyes might have fallen out of my head, I'm not sure. But one thing I was sure of, I'm fucking scared. I take a deep breath and head over to her.

I kneel next to her, noticing that her intense stare had become worse. Her lips were completely white. I feel so bad for her. "Dempsey, come here." She commanded with the same stare and her lips barely moving. I follow her order and bring my face closer to her. A breathy, solemn tone left her mouth, the total opposite of what she normally sounded like, "when is a door not a door?"

I sit back up quickly. When is a door not a door? I look back to the other guys to see if they heard it. Richtofen was the only one who nodded, so I asked him what the answer was. "When it's ajar."

I look back at her, noticing her eyes were wide with fear making me fidget. What is she so afraid of? It was only when she said this that I realized she wasn't looking at me in fear. She was looking behind me. "Don't let him in, Dempsey."

My heart and stomach both sank at the same time as I felt something behind me. I tensed and closed my eyes, squeezing my terrified tears out. I felt a hand grip onto my shoulder hard, making me jump and scramble to get away when I noticed it was only Nikolai.

He gave me a look of pure concern, the others all following. I took a deep breath, trying to choke back my tears, finally breaking down. "What's happening to me?"

They all gave me pitiful looks, but I couldn't focus on that. It was back.

 _Let me in, Dempsey._


	19. Chapter 19

I groan in frustration, "so what the hell are we supposed to do?" I ask, insanely annoyed by Richtofen, Nikolai, and Takeo. They aren't seeing that we can literally do nothing, because we have no idea what's going on with Aoife! I don't know if she's a dedicated performer and this is an act, or if she is really in trouble, and it's fucking making me angry. I want nothing more than to help her, but I don't know how.

"Dempsey." Richtofen sighs while running a hand through his hair. He's probably just as frustrated. "We need to do something! We all know that she's keeping something from us." He laughs dryly, "she somehow knew how to help Takeo by hitting him in the head. She hears voices that help her with shit, and Dempsey, she's closest to you, so we all suspect that she's told you more about what's going on with her."

I rub my face in annoyance. "To be honest, I feel like I know the least out of all of you. She seems a little.. distant from me lately." I admit with a frown. I didn't really know that I felt that way until I spewed it out, but I believe every syllable in the statement.

Richtofen huffs loudly, looking around in defeat. "Well, fuck." Something flashes over his face as he starts smiling, "wait. She gave us a hint about whatever was happening in her weird comatose state, right? Who says she can't do it again?" He looks at all of us individually with hope on his face.

I almost reciprocate the hope until Nikolai bursts his bubble, "yeah, but we'd have to wait for her to do something, and I don't think I'm that patient." He sighs.

We all let the words absorb, collectively letting out loud groans realizing this wasn't going to be an easy task.

I guess we all have to wait.

* * *

We all sit against the walls in the room with our heads resting back and our feet sprawled out. Well, of course Aoife is laying next to me with that dead stare which still sends shivers down my spine. We found some white bed sheets in a place nearby that had a bed or two; I'm assuming for if someone got hurt and needed to sit down for a little bit or something. I don't know, man, but I know it was useful to help Aoife comfortable in her..state.

I sigh away all of my thoughts and look at her sweaty face. It pained me to see her like this. She looked so fucking petrified that it's making me scared, and it's breaking my heart. What is she so afraid of?

My eyes widen when I see her flinch. It was so quick and brief that I almost didn't think that it happened. I reached my hand out to cup her face, so I could get a better look at her. My fingers rested under her ear, so I could maneuver her better to see where something was bothering her.

Nothing. I found nothing. What the fuck.

I will myself to calm down internally as I pull my hand back. I groan while wiping my hand across my face like it would rub away all of my worries when I felt something smear on me.

My eyebrows bend in confusion as I slowly pull my hand away from my face, the sight making my eyes widen. The light red color sent loud signals to my mind that it was blood.

Aoife.

I quickly moved my whole body, so I would be on her right side, the other boys being jolted out of their half asleep state by my frantic movement. After I had stood in the spot I wanted to be in - with the others rushing in to ask what was going on before I shushed them - I put two fingers on Aoife's chin, slowly turning her head to the side to represent her ear, the anticipation coming from myself and the guys becoming overwhelming.

There it was. She had blood coming from her ear. It had made it all the way down to her neck, and it was still walking down her pale skin onto the bed sheet under her.

"Do you guys remember when she screamed and the exact same thing happened to us?" Richtofen asked with no trace of amusement - or any emotion - in his voice, because he pretty much figured we knew exactly what he was talking about.

We all nod, distracted from saying anything else. We were all trying to mentally form an explanation in our minds - at least that what I assume they were doing. It's what I'm doing.

Richtofen's exasperated whisper full of curiousity broke the silence, leaving a good question in the silent air. "It was only a scream. How could it do so much damage like that?"

I sighed, not being able to come up with an answer for him. At least that was until the voice whispered, _Banshee_. "What if she did the same thing?" I ask out loud, feeling a theory piece together in my mind.

"What are you on about?" Richtofen asked, his tone telling me he was catching on to my thoughts.

As I stare at her and the blood that stopped walking, I answer, "she screamed externally and our ears bled. Maybe she screamed internally and that made HER ears bleed." I felt my eyebrows knit together, feeling a pull in my chest to bring my face near hers. "What if you were right, Richtofen? What if she's trying to warn us of something, but she can't for some reason." I trailed off, tilting my head when I noticed something in her eyes. There was something wrong with the green in them. They.. weren't right. I don't know how to explain it. "Aoife," I whispered, ignoring the sudden tension in the room as the guys stared at the back of my head. "Who's Macduff?"

I leaned away from her, leaving it so everyone could see her. She remained still, staring at the ceiling when a sudden whisper made us all get chills. "Richtofen."

My eyes grew as I snapped my head to Richtofen. Takeo and Nikolai both looked at him too, wondering what it is he could have done to make her threaten to kill him. Wait - it wouldn't have been him she would kill, was.. she planning on killing us?

I felt a hand grab my own, stopping me from moving towards Richtofen to question him. I instantly knew that hand; It was Aoife's small hand. "Not him." She mumbled making us all look at each other, confused.

Realization washed over me as I mumbled, "Evil Richtofen." But I wasn't alone in the talking, Richtofen said it at the same time as me. What the hell?

"You rang?" A cocky voice came from behind us. "I didn't really want us to meet this way," he faked sadness when we all turned towards him, not liking the uncomfortable air that came with this man. "But, I think you guys are finding out things that shouldn't have reached you."

Richtofen stared at Evil Richtofen with knitted eyebrows and walked around him. "What the hell?" He muttered to himself before he found himself in front of Evil Richtofen. "So..you're the unlucky Macduff, huh?" I watched as he tried to size up to..himself.

Evil Richtofen chuckled, not flinching when Richtofen stood over him. "I'm not the unlucky one in this situation." He grinned mischievously when Richtofen's face fell. "Oh, come on. You guys already have the information out there, you're just not clicking it up here," he said, tapping the side of his head. "We've established that I am the Macduff, right?" He asked us, the tone telling us that he saw us below him. I didn't bother holding back the deep scowl I felt rising. Evil Richtofen's eyes flickered to me and his grin grew as he pushed past normal Richtofen. "Ah, Dempsey. I'm sure you already know the answer, so why not share with the rest of the class?"

Oh, if looks could kill. "You're Macduff, but we're Macduff's family." I look over to the guys, letting out a sigh. "Aoife is planning on killing us."

Our Richtofen immediately grew angry and gripped Evil Richtofen's shoulder, throwing it back so he'd face him. "If you're the Macduff, then that means you did something to piss Aoife off enough for her to want to kill." He concludes with a smug smile when the other Richtofen looks taken aback.

"You say that like she'd never be one to kill." He settles for, staring into our Richtofen's eyes menacingly. "Can you be so sure about that? Who says she hasn't already?"

Nikolai, Takeo, and I all take a step forward to both Richtofen's until our feet freeze. "The only things she's killed aren't living anymore, she didn't have a choice." I defended, clenching my fists at my sides.

Evil Richtofen removed his stare off of Richtofen to put it on me, a look in his eyes saying 'you shouldn't argue with me'. "If you know her oh, so well, Dempsey, then tell me why she hasn't been going to you for anything anymore? Why has she been keeping to herself instead of going to you like she used to?" He quirked an eyebrow with a smirk at my silence. "That's what I thought. How well do you really know your girlfriend?"

"She's not my girlfriend."

"Ah, denial is the first step to admitting your feelings to yourself Dempsey. You're almost there." Evil Richtofen teased as everyone stared at me. I couldn't help but shrink into myself. "She inadvertently admitted to a crime that even God would punish." The corner of his lips lifted cynically when he got extremely close to my face. "But, of course you'd ignore that based off of your feelings towards her-"

"Who the hell are you to talk about Aoife like that?" I interrupt him, nothing short of disgust in my tone. "That strawberry blonde girl that you're talking about is none of the things you're describing. Just because you clearly have a problem with her doesn't mean you can shove all of it on us, you fucking prick." I spat at him, watching as he managed to keep a stoic face, but I could see the surprise in his eyes. "If she doesn't want to come to me anymore, then she doesn't fucking have to. So fuck you for basically telling me it's my fucking fault that she doesn't talk to me anymore. From what I'm hearing come out of your mouth, it's all on you."

He keeps his mouth shut, eyes flicking from each of our faces before his stoic act dropped. He finally found whatever words he wanted and spoke with a steady voice, but I couldn't pick up the feeling behind it. "Don't talk so fondly of Pandora's box if you're ignorant of what's inside."

I never let my glare fade, I only made it stronger when I noticed our Richtofen was about to say something. "You're one to talk about her killing so many people that God would punish. You know something called The Holocaust? Hm? Yeah, you and your fucking stupid Nazi Generals had fun with that, didn't you? 12 _**million**_ people died because of you and just because they were different than you and didn't believe in what you did, what your country did." He ranted as we all heard him get choked up at the end. I don't know what he's talking about, but it seems like it's getting to the other Richtofen so it must mean something. "I can't believe that my country would do that."

"I did NOT come here to be insulted and judged by you guys," Evil Richtofen growled, having heard enough. "I came here to intervene in this whole shit show. The shit show that was created by Aoife and Dempsey." He gave me a creepy smile, "but I can't get too much into that now." He walks past me to Aoife's still form on the bed. I growl when I realize that I still can't move my feet. "Alright, Aoife, I know you can still hear me even though you're trapped in your mind." She's trapped in her mind? "I know who did this to you, but I can't say much else from the company surrounding me. All I can say that I know you'll be able to understand is this: Ní mór duit a múscail. Cibé an bhfuil sé dom, nó Dempsey, ní mór duit a múscail. Wake suas chun iad a shábháil. Iad a shábháil ó féin."

I immediately recognized my name in the middle of his talking, opening my mouth to ask him why he said it until I heard our Richtofen ask, "how do you know her language if you're German?"

Evil Richtofen walked up to him and gave a flashy grin. "There's endless knowledge that fills your mind when you're dead." And just like that, he's gone.

"We've been talking with a dead man?" Nikolai asks in shock when Richtofen scoffs at him.

"We kill the dead everyday, so it shouldn't even come as a surprise to you guys."


	20. Chapter 20

After a while of no one talking, we all sat down in a circle near Aoife's bed. It was blatantly obvious that we all had something to say, but we didn't know where to start. Takeo opened his mouth at one point to talk, Richtofen did the same, and I even joined in, but nothing came out of our mouths. The only one who broke the silence was Nikolai, and I immediately knew his words weren't going to be nice. The whole time, we all saw his face harden as each second passed.

"Was any of that necessary?" He spat at us, more at Richtofen and I than Takeo. He closed his eyes and sucked in a huge breath, "no, answer me - was that necessary at all? Neither of you had to go off on him like that. Sure - I might not know this man or his intentions, but it was very obvious that he held all of the answers to the questions we wanted to ask, but you two let your anger and ego get in the way. So, tell me - was that in the _slightest_ bit necessary?"

The air in the room definitely shifted after that. I felt really uncomfortable under his glare, so Richtofen took one for the team. "I'll admit what we did wasn't the best choice in the world - yes. It might not have been necessary, but it happened and we can't do anything about it." Richtofen sighed, "we might not even need him. We have our own clues, and I'm sure we each have some individual clues to help us get to the culprit."

Nikolai rolled his eyes, a scowl resting on his face. "Do we even know what we are trying to find out? That should be the first problem. And we already know who the culprit is - well, at least from what you guys said, 'Evil' Richtofen is the culprit. Explain to me what exactly are we trying to find out?" He grumbled out.

Richtofen's shoulders slouched, another sigh escaping him. "Well, I want to know what the voices in her head are all about. Besides, it's pretty obvious that shes talked to Evil Richtofen on multiple occasions from the way he was challenging if we really knew her."

Nikolai shot up in a sudden fury and stood over me making me flinch back with widened eyes. Where the hell is this coming from? " _You_ have something going on in your mind that you're not telling us, either. You're not as good as hiding it as you think you are. We all see the way Aoife looks when she's hearing something up there, and I've seen the same look on your face. Not to mention that she told you not to let him in. Who is she talking about, Dempsey? You have voices up there too?" He kneeled down in front of me, getting dangerously close to me. I felt the sweat form on my forehead as he kept hitting the nail on the head with everything wrong with me. My mouth opened and closed plenty of times as I tried to answer, but only stutters came out. "Come on. I'm waiting, Dempsey."

Richtofen jumped in between us when Nikolai got a little too close for comfort, his glare piercing my soul. Richtofen grabbed him by the shirt and dragged him out of the room with "what the hell is wrong with you?" and "Takeo come here, and help me calm him down."

When I heard the door shut as they left, I willed my stiff muscles to release the tension. I huffed, leaning against the wall with my eyes closed when an old visitor came back into my mind. _Hmm, seems like they're catching onto me. Maybe I should hide better? Or I could talk to you more often to make them even angrier?_ I could hear the smirk he had - although I was sure he didn't have a real face - as he spoke cynically to me. _You don't think I have a form? I'm not just a voice, Dempsey. I'm you._

I was startled out of my thoughts by something crashing to the floor next to me. I slowly bring the hand that shot to my chest down after my heart started to calm down when I realized it a book. It was wide open to a certain page towards the front, but not the very beginning. With furrowed eyebrows, I slowly crawled over to the book, reading what it said on it.

What kind of book would have this in it? My brain asks me (not the voice) as I keep my hand in the page to look at the front. Bestiary.

"What's a bestiary?" I ask out loud to no one in particular, jumping when I get a response from behind me.

"It's a book that holds all types of supernatural creatures. Why?" Richtofen asks as he, Nikolai, and Takeo walk back into the room. Nikolai gives me a small nod, and I take it as a he's not angry anymore. I nod back.

 _Don't tell him what's on the page._ The voice in my mind demanded darkly.

"It fell off of the shelf, and it was open to this page with-" the voice started screaming in my mind, making me wince and forget about to talking. _I SAID DON'T TELL THEM!_

"Open to what, Dempsey?" Richtofen asks, taking a step forward until I wave him off.

"To the page with-" It screamed again, and I couldn't take it anymore. I threw the book at Richtofen, making sure the book didn't flip pages and covered my ears as if it would help. I knew it wouldn't, but I still tried. The scariest part about the scream was it sounded just like Aoife's. She wouldn't do this to me. No matter how angry or how much she doesn't trust me anymore, she would never do this. The voice must be mimicking it.

"The Wailing Woman?" Nikolai read aloud from the book, "otherwise known as a Banshee. According to Irish mythology, she is a female spirit seen as the omen of death. The way she warns of a death is by keening, hence the name The Wailing Woman. If someone is about to enter a situation where they will most likely not come out alive, she will warn them by wailing or keening." He takes a deep breath, continuing on with, "most, though not all, surnames associated with Banshees have the Ó or Mc/Mac prefix."

I felt a tingle shoot down my spine as my mind worked at a thousand miles per hour, making me accidentally say aloud, "Macbeth." My eyes grow wide at my voice, "Aoife might be this..Wailing Woman. I mean think about it," my mouth spews before I could stop it - the screaming in my head becoming louder to attempt to shut me up, _(why was he so concerned with what I was telling them?)_ but I couldn't stop my mouth - "she's screamed on multiple occasions, and they've done weird things to us and to the panzersoldat. She killed something with her scream, so she could predict death with her scream, right? Maybe those are the voices she's hearing, they're telling her things to lead us away from death. Maybe it's the dead themselves that are talking to her." I breath out, "what else does it say?"

They all stared at me, wide eyed at the information that flowed out of my mouth like a waterfall until Nikolai broke the silence by reading further into it. "In some parts of Leinster, she is referred to as _bean chaointe_ (keening woman) whose wail can be so piercing that it shatters glass."

"See?" I exclaim excitedly, now that the parts seem to come together a little more. "Her scream has definitely pierced before, like our ears and such. I'm sure she can do much more than what she lets on." I giddily ramble out, stumbling over my words a few times as they stare at me, the confusion obvious in the room.

"She did say that she screamed so she could hear what the voices were telling her," Richtofen points out, joining in on the discovery ship with me. He offers me a smile to go along and I give one back. "Maybe her hearing is tuned in a different way than ours. I don't know man, I'm a doctor, but I don't know anything about supernatural stuff."

Takeo jumped into the conversation making us all look at him. "That's how she knew I was going to kill her."

I slowly nodded as my mind wondered, but Richtofen said my thoughts aloud. "If she's the Macbeth we've been claiming she is, then it wouldn't make sense. How would she be able to predict her own death?" He asked us. I shrugged; I know nothing about the supernatural, so I can't help on this subject.

"Maybe if other people were going to die with her," Nikolai offered, making all of our faces drop. That's a depressing thought. "But we only made the assumption that she was Macbeth. What if she isn't?"

Richtofen's eyebrows knit together, "what makes you say that?"

"Think about it. How much of this story do we really know? What if we're missing something really big and important?"

The voice chuckled deeply in my mind, making me cringe. _Bingo_. "I don't know if that's true. I mean, could she really hide that much from us?" I ask them.

Nikolai shrugged, "what if she doesn't know much herself?"


	21. Chapter 21

"Okay, I know I suggested we do this, but I'm stumped." I admit to Nikolai as the two of us walk around the French base that we were sent to kill Richtofen. I suggested after we found out about the Banshee thing that maybe we should do something besides sitting and doing nothing. We've been over working Aoife anyways, so we might as well try to figure stuff out on our own.

My genius ass thought it would be fun to tell Richtofen and Takeo to stay back with Aoife. Richtofen because he's a doctor, and Takeo because I don't trust Richtofen. Okay, maybe that's not the whole reason, but don't worry about it. Nikolai and I thought it would be ideal to figure out how to upgrade our staffs. Aoife said it was possible, and if this was a game to Aoife, we must know how to do it somehow. We're going to start with Nikolai's staff, because I remember Aoife told me—

"Dempsey, would you stop spacing out and help me think?" Nikolai's voice made me jump and my heart speed up. "Jesus, you're almost as bad as Aoife if I want to talk to her during her 'moments'."

I shake my head to clear my mind and nod. "Yeah, yeah. Sorry, I was.. just thinking."

"Yes, I gathered that." Nikolai said a little sharper than I'd like, but I let it slide.

 _You're just going to let him talk to you like that, Dempsey? Show him who's boss_. I swallow hard, and I try my best to seem normal in front of Nikolai. He can somehow read me better than anyone – minus Aoife. Kind of like a how you just know when your brother or sister is angry or whatever. _If you don't show him who's boss..._

 _I will._

"So!" I exclaim a little louder than I intended, trying to do whatever I could to distract myself from the non-Dempsey voice. "Where do you think the staff's are upgraded?" I pause when another question comes to mind. "Hold on. How many steps do you think there is?"

Nikolai sighs in exasperation. "One step at a time, Dempsey. Let's just focus on finding out how to upgrade this bad boy." He holds his staff up with a prideful grin, and I actually find my own smile making it's way onto my face at his love for the ice staff.

"Have you gone in The Crazy Place before?" I ask Nikolai out of the blue.

His eyebrows scrunch together as he thinks for a second. "No, I don't think I have."

I shrug. "Wanna go there? I think I saw some weird shit in there the last time—" I stopped the second I brought it up. Nikolai frowned and pat my shoulder to comfort me. I clear my throat and gave a pathetic excuse for a smile. "Well, you know."

He nods, waving his hand so we'd get to walking to the Ice Staff tunnel near Generator 6.

As much as I tried to repress the memories, I couldn't. Just because I wasn't in control doesn't mean that I didn't get to see what I was doing.

 _My face morphed into anger the second I saw her face after we stepped into the portal. Something about her just enraged a small portion of my soul. The way her innocent green eyes stare at me without knowing what they do to me. The way that there's something hiding behind those eyes. She may be good at keeping her secrets, but her eyes aren't._

 _"You know, I've been meaning to ask you something. But you always seem so.. what's the word," I pretend to think hard about it before staring deeply into her fear-ridden eyes with hatred filling mine. This wasn't my hate. Who is this? "Disinterested in me." I spit out harshly, watching her small frame shake no matter how hard she tried to hide it._

 _No, Aoife. This isn't me. You know that._

 _"I always hear you talking to or about Richtofen, and it_ _ **really**_ _bothers me." Jealously runs colds through my veins suddenly. Where is this coming from? Aoife, this isn't me!_

 _The raw, intense fear in her wide eyes sent terrible shivers up my spine. "Aw, am I scaring poor little Aoife?" I seethe through my teeth while trying to keep a nice, gentle voice. When she doesn't answer, it starts a wildfire of pure rage in my chest. How dare she not answer me? "Well, that fucking sucks, doesn't it?" I fake pity on her._

 _Before I know it, I have her backed against a wall, and I stood no less than 3 inches away from her face, our heavy breathing fanning each other's faces._

 _I use the sweetest voice I could in my rage, but it was only a blanket covered in holes over the wrath I felt. "I just don't get what's up with you. You shouldn't be so afraid of me. I'm Dempsey, remember?"_

 _No. Aoife, this isn't Dempsey. This is the wrong Dempsey._

 _"The one that found you in the first place."_

 _This isn't Dempsey, Aoife. Please know that._

 _"The one you did all the stuff with."_

 _This is not me._

 _"The one you first told about knowing everything to."_

 _Because this Dempsey doesn't care about you._

 _At this point, I had both of my hands on each side of her head, forcing her to look at me. My face was pressed against hers possessively, no doubt sweating on her. From the corner of my eyes, I could see her reach for something._

 _Her knife._

 _"I don't know what you're talking about, sweetheart." Aoife purrs into my ear, her hand tightening on the knife._

 _Do it, Aoife._

 _"It's always been you."_

 _I pull my head back and rest my forehead on hers, staring directly into her eyes. Try as she might, I could see her fear._

 _I close my eyes and sigh happily, taking in the closeness of her. "Good," I whisper._

 _I notice her fingers uncurl on her knife when I open my eyes again. What is she doing?_

 _Without putting any thought into it, I lean in to give Aoife the kiss that I've been_ craving _since the moment I saw her. That wouldn't be right. It isn't me. This isn't you, Dempsey. Dempsey, snap-_

 _I fall on my ass after she headbutts the fuck out of me._

 _I groan, rubbing my head to ease the pain, glancing up at her at the same time. "What the fuck, Aoife?"_

 _She looks into my eyes, almost hesitantly, and I see her visibly relax._

 _I guess my eyes betray me as much as hers do her._

* * *

"What the hell are these symbols?" Nikolai asks in pure confusion, staring up at weird square plates near the Ice section of The Crazy Place. Each of them had their own marking.

"I have no idea," I mumble, looking around to see if there was something we were missing. Guess what? We definitely were.

On the wall near them was a blue slab of ice that held a symbol on it. I quickly looked back and forth between any of the squares to see if they match, but I found no similarities.

A theory started forming in my mind. "Did you.. feel drawn to your staff at all?"

Nikolai turns to me with a look basically telling me I'm stupid. "Yeah. Didn't you?"

I nod with a smile growing. "Well, yeah, that's where I'm going with this. Maybe you, in a way, subconsciously know the answer?"

Nikolai stared a me blankly for a long time, making me think that I shouldn't have even opened my mouth until he laughed with a big smile. "Since when did you become the smart one?"

A grin plastered itself onto my face, not minding that that could've been taken very rudely. "Thanks." I cheer until I clear my throat as if clearing my plate of thought. "So, take a deep breath."

Nikolai followed my order, closing his eyes as well.

"Look at the symbol, and don't think about it, just do whatever feels right."

I watch him slowly open his eyes, determination prominent in his facial features and body structure.

He stares and stares, not a single muscle moving in his body until his eyes start slipping shut. I panic and step forward in preparation to catch him when he falls, but he stands straight. Is he in a trance?

I took a deep breath, and I prepared myself to do this. I didn't need to mind of Richtofen do this, and I don't need the loyalty of Takeo to do this. I have my heart, and I have my strong-will.

"Nikolai?" I tentatively spoke out, using the softest voice I could to reduce the echo that could confuse Nikolai in his trance. "Can you hear me?'

His eye lids moved rapidly as he breathily answered me. "Yes."

I breath out my happiness in my accomplishment. "Can you tell me what the open dot on the wall here means?" I watched his face closely to make sure nothing went wrong.

His face remained blank as he monotonously replied. "Zero."

My eyebrows bent in confusion, but I kept pressing. "Do you know which symbol that is above you?"

This time, he nodded slowly. "Yes. I do."

"Do you know what you need to do?" I asked carefully.

Another nod. "Yes."

I smiled at the success of my theory. "Do it."

His eyes snapped open, and he turned to look at the eight squares hanging from the ceiling. Without hesitation, he pointed his Ice Staff at one with a single triangle and shot it.

It flipped over.

* * *

Nikolai quickly had them at all flipped within a minute flat, and I decided we needed to get out of there. Ever since I let him fall into that trance, he's been acting a little funny. I'm sure it's all good though.

 _You're a fucking idiot._

Fuck off, non-Dempsey voice.

"Dempsey!" I hear Nikolai call from a footprint near Generator 4, and I run over there. "This is the last tombstone." He smiles when I stand next to him. "All I have to do is shoot it, and we will need to do one last step."

Nikolai kept on going on about how he needed to find three tombstones when we left The Crazy Place. I'm assuming with the trance it allowed him to go into super consciousness, but I'm starting to regret letting that happen.

"Dempsey, look." Nikolai pointed past me in the direction of the Dig Site, so I turned towards it, immediately seeing the Godly beam of light shooting up from center of it into the sky while seeming to go on forever. "We need to go there."

There was something in his voice that made me turn to him with my chest swelling up with confusion and fear – maybe more fear. Before I had enough time to open my mouth to question him, he was pushing passed me as if his feet were dragging him there.

The feeling in my chest made me keep my distance from him as he marched excitedly to the underground.

As I stood down near where the staff's were originally made, Nikolai was running around, doing what he called 'the most important and final part'. He was moving around like a maniac. I'm one to talk though, right? I have a fucking voice in my head.

"Oh, Dempsey," Nikolai's voice sang from behind me, and I immediately knew there was a something wrong. "Would you please turn around?"

I swallowed down my hesitation and spun around to see Nikolai, wide eyed, pointing his Ice Staff at me. I gulp. "Come on, man. I don't think any problems we've had in the past should result to this." I hold my arms out to pacify him although my heart was racing like a motherfucker. "Just, put the staff down, and we can solve this calmly."

Nikolai scoffed at me like I was an idiot. "Are you kidding me? This is the only choice!"

I shook my head, taking a small step towards him, but I stopped when he rose his staff higher. "Nikolai," I breathed out, "I can assure you that whatever problem you have with me we can solve it without that, so if you could just put it down—"

What the fuck has happened? What in the _world_ happened for us to get to this point? I should not be begging Nikolai not to kill me, and I don't recall ever doing anything to be executed for.

"No, Dempsey." He seethed, shaking in anger. "You don't get it. That trance? It gave me all the answers I needed, and I know what I have to do now." He aims it towards me with a sinister smile growing on his face. "I need to kill the serpent."

My eyes widen, and the voice in my head chuckles. _What a predicament I've gotten you into._

He takes a deep breath, making sure his aim was perfect on me before screaming, "THIS IS FOR MY SISTER!"

I close my eyes on impulse, not wanting to have to see the face of my murderer as I die.

Lights shattered, and sparks flew as I ducked to the floor out of instinct to avoid the shrapnel of glass. The earth shook beneath me, causing loose rocks to tumble down into the bottom where Nikolai and I are. I watched one hit him in the head, and he was instantly on the floor. What could cause this? Better yet, _who_ would cause this? And that's when I heard it.

 _Aoife was screaming_.


	22. Chapter 22

"Why the fuck is it so dark in here?" I ask to no one in particular, jumping when another voice cuts in the air.

"Your eyes are closed, dear." A British man speaks calmly, a hint of amusement in his voice. My eyebrows furrowed, but he was right. They were closed.

I open my eyes, and I'm in a cell. Well.. I don't know what the fuck it's called or is, but it isn't normal.

"You're in a preserved cage. I'm sure you can guess that we're in your mind, but I guess this is where he locked you up in here. With me." He didn't sound to thrilled to be stuck in here, but if this is my brain, isn't he a figment of my imagination?

I lightly walk to the glass wall separating the two of us. There was a door to the right of me, but I assumed it was locked. "And who might you be?"

The man set his newspaper with ' _Kennedy is killed by a sniper as he rides in a car in Dallas; Johnson sworn in on plane_ ' on it down, and he gives me a smile. "The name is Charles, dear. Yours?"

I grin proudly, putting my hands on my hips like I was presenting myself. "The name is Aoife."

Chuckling, he gets up to walk in front of me-the glass being stuck in the middle. "You know, for someone trapped in her mind.. you seem calm."

I shrug nonchalantly. "Eh, what can I say? I've seen some weird shit. I'm immune." I knock of the glass and frown. "Is this bullet proof? You think I have any guns?"

He muffles a smile. "Well, ma'am, I'm not the one who locked you in here. Plus," his lips curled, "that scream of yours is like a bullet."

"So I can get out of here easily is what you're saying?" I cockily prompt, holding a slick smirk on my face, while sitting on the floor.

Looking down at me with a small smile, he shook his head. "I wouldn't say so. _He_ was really adamant on keeping you in here. You're ruining his plans." He didn't keep the know-it-all tone from his voice as he mysteriously walked back to his chair, plopping in it.

I perked up, "and is there a reason why you're referring to this person anonymously? This is my mind as far as I'm concerned. No one is getting in here.. again."

He nodded with a thoughtful look. "Well, you're right on that. He can't do this again or else problems will arise. But the person I'm referring to is not a friend of ours. I certainly don't like him, and I'm sure after you find out who it is, you won't like him either."

I sighed at the secretiveness, wanting straight answers. "Listen, dude. I appreciate you being so nice to sit with me while I'm stuck in this mental cell without knowing why, but I really need some answers. I need to get out and help my friends..." my voice died. "Oh, my God. Oh, my– I NEED TO HELP MY FRIENDS!" I shot up, making him flinch back with widened eyes.

"Calm down, ma'am. I can assure you that you'll be getting out of here in time." He pacified me with his tender voice. It kind of worked, but my mind was going crazy. I'm not sure if all of it was only about my friends wellbeing. There was something else going on in my mind. Someone is going to die. "Don't you want to figure some things out?"

I brought my eyes up from the floor, looking at him like he was stupid. I'm sure he read that without my words. "You're in my mind, aren't you? What would you know that I wouldn't?"

He smiles. "Well.. I'm more of the personification of your feelings. Not normal emotions, but your Banshee feelings." My falls drops in confusion. "You didn't know you were a Banshee?"

I blink. "I..I've made a joke about it, but I didn't know it was serious. I mean, it makes a lot of sense. I keep screaming and seeing shit that will steer us away from death. But.. I haven't had this feeling before." My voice was nearly a whisper. "At least in this life time. I haven't predicted anyone's death this.. straightforward before."

Charles nods with a cloudy look. "Can.. you tell me who's going to die?"

He already know the answer, I'm sure. He said he was the embodiment of my feelings, but I guess it was just to see if I was as in tune with him as he thought. "It isn't just one person." I gulp, looking him in the eyes. "It's _all of them_."

He frowns. "Then I better catch you up on what's going on before we get you out of here."

* * *

"Monty? He's Macbeth? How?" Laying on my stomach with my legs kicking in the air behind me, I ask him with genuine confusion. "I thought I was? Evil Richtofen is still Macduff though, right? And the _2.0_ original four are still his 'family'?"

Charles puffs air from his cheeks at the shit ton of questions I gave him. "Okay, lets start with him being Macbeth. He.. he has time set up in a certain way. He doesn't want that being messed up, just like Macbeth became paranoid about people in the way of his throne, correct?" I nod in fascination. "You're getting in the way of his plans for the future—"

"That's why he said that I can't tell them about him? And the chain of events Samantha was talking about?" I inquire.

He smiles. "Exactly. So, instead of killing you, because that would raise a bunch of suspicion from Dempsey, Richtofen, Nikolai, and Takeo - possibly even Evil Richtofen - he decided to do the next best thing. Make you immobile, mentally and physically."

"That means that I'm not moving right now in front of the boys?" I wince. "That's embarrassing."

"You'll survive." Charles laughs. "In fact, someone is talking to you right now."

My eyebrows knit together, and I try to tune my hearing in to what is going on.

"Alright, Aoife, I know you can hear me even though youre trapped in your mind." A voice echoes through my head. Evil Richtofen. What did he want? "I know who did this to you, but I can't say much else from the company surrounding me." Did he reveal himself to the original four? "All I can say that I know you'll understand is this: Ní mór duit a múscail. Cibé an bhfuil sé dom, nó Dempsey, ní mór duit a múscail. Wake suas chun iad a shábháil. Iad a shábháil ó féin."

Anger immediately rushed cold in my veins. Why the fuck is he going to beg me to wake up to save them when he can do it himself? They know about him now so what is he hiding for?! OooOO! That motherfucker pisses me off so bad!

"Aoife?" Charles' voice shakes as he tries to calm me down. I snap my head to him. "Are you okay? What just happened?"

I looked at him funny. "You didn't just hear that bullshit?"

He shook his head.

I clench my fists at my sides. "Evil Richtofen just talked to me, basically saying that I need to wake up to save the boys, and he knows who trapped me in my here." I hit the side of my head angrily.

Within a second, Charles was in the cell with me, holding my arms to my sides gently. "I need you to calm down. Please. Being angry at Evil Richtofen isn't going to help anything." He forced me to look into his blue eyes. "Whatever you're mad at him for, you need to let go and end all of this." His eyes started watering, making my anger subside into empathy. "Never thought you'd see someone else cry in this story, huh?" He laughs lightly, but he continues with his speech. "You need to let that go, Aoife. Yes, Evil Richtofen thought about sacrificing you, but did you even stay long enough to hear what he had to say?"

My wrath came back at the absurdity of his argument. "Are you fucking kidding me, Charles?" I rip my arms from his grip harshly. My chest puffs as I breath heavily. "I'm not supposed to be angry at someone who decided I should die on their own, without telling me? Isn't it my decision if I die or not?" He didn't respond, only looking at me with puppy dog eyes. "Why should I stay long enough to hear what the fuck he has to say about MY death? Something that I wasn't aware of until he accidentally let it slip enough for me to catch on? I don't fucking think so.

"We had that huge ass fight right before it too. Beating each other up because that idiot can't pick a fucking personality, and I flip out every time, thinking he's back to the sadistic fuck that we was when he was alive." It felt like my chest was going to burst with how much emotion was built in. Do I scream because I'm mad? Do I cry because I'm sad? Do I break stuff (by Limp Bizkit) because I don't know what to do? "No. That dumb fuck needs to pick what fucking personality he's going to be be, and he needs to pick what fucking side he's on or I'm going to flip my shit and—" I stop myself from saying it. I can't even threaten that. I can't threaten to kill people just because I'm mad at one person.

I could only hear him breathing from behind me - for some reason I turned away from him as I raged - and it sounded like he was trying to calm the storm brewing inside of him. His stare was burning holes on my back, and I could feel his retaliation coming back.

"Are you truly that blind?" He asks suddenly. I turn to him. "Are you truly so blind in your own emotions and problems that you can't see the bigger picture here?" His voice was straining, creating a scratchy sound, from how much he wanted to get out at one time. "Aoife, there is going to be a war bigger than any World War. Hell, this war is going to surpass _one world_! War of the Worlds is becoming true! You know that!" Tendons start making themselves visible in his neck as he tries to hold back his yelling. "I know that you've been feeling it - I'm the fucking embodiment of the feelings! Jesus Christ, don't you think that Richtofen has feelings? He was probably hurt when you told him you didn't know if he was on your side or not."

I felt the need to say something back, but my mind was drawing a blank. I didn't really know if I wanted to interrupt him while he was going on his rant.

"HE'S BEEN DOING EVERYTHING FOR _YOU_ SINCE YOU GOT HERE, YOU FUCKING NINNY! LORD HAVE MERCY!" He finally snapped, yelling at me (as I had no choice but to listen) with a fully red face. A vein on his forehead was so prominent that I was afraid it would pop. "God fucking forbid that maybe he was only looking out for you. It's always a conspiracy with you! Just take what in front of you! There is more to the story that even _you_ don't know, darling." I squint my eyes curiously. "Did you know that Monty has the boys stuck in an eternal loop? I mean," he laughs satirically, "how did you think they even ended up in the Crusades looking EXACTLY like they do now? It wasn't reincarnation, sweetie. They were put back in time because Monty's a knobhead."

Charles seemed calmer, so I only sat down and listened to what he had to say.

"I honestly don't even know the reason why, but I know it was fucking dumb." He shook his head at his own words in amusement, as if that wasn't even the half of it. "He makes them go through these.. these _trails_ , and when they complete them, he sends them back in time like a moron." He looks in my eyes, and I knew all his annoyance was washed away. "Those four NEED to survive to help secure a better tomorrow. When you wake up, I'm going to help you understand the steps they need to defeat Monty." He huffs, "I wish that I could express how important it is that they live and save everyone, but I can't. I need you to try to think of the unthinkable. Imagine the unimaginable."

The word Imagine makes me think of John Lennon's song. My mind always switches to music, no matter how much I don't want it to, but it help me think. It helps me imagine. "Imagine all the people living life in peace." I mumble the certain lyric out, and Charles gives me a poor excuse of a smile. "...you're saying that if I die and help them, everything will be fine?" I choke down my emotions.

He gives me a small nod, almost hesitant.

I rest my head on the glass behind me. "Can you show me what will happen after I die? Will they be happy?" I swallow hard. "Will Dempsey be happy?"

Charles looks at me with pity. "Turn around."

With heaviness in my chest, I turn my body around and see what's like a movie behind the glass. I can see the three of them with big smiles on their faces, talking to each other like the world wasn't just almost annihilated. They all looked tired, but they were happy to be with each other, despite their differences with each other. The stereotypes that their countries don't get along didn't work with them. They're brothers, and I couldn't get in between that.

Dempsey cracked a joke and the rest laughed while looking off into the sunset. "Cliché." I mumble with a wet laugh as a tear ran down my face.

Getting a closer look, I saw Dempsey holding a note in his hand. There was a single drop of blood on it, but he didn't care. It clearly meant a lot to him.

"You wrote that to him before you died." Charles says from beside me. "It was pretty cute." He smiled to himself as I watch the scene in front of me closely. "You told him that you knew you were going to die, but you didn't want him to know. You put more in there, but you'll figure that out when you wake up." He looks at me. "You okay?"

I bite my lip. "I just came to terms with the fact that I'm going to die, so not yet." I flicker my eyes to him, and he gives me a grin. "They're truly happy? Everyone else will be happy?"

He nods.

I smile to myself as I have my final decision in mind. "This shit is too adorable for me to stop." I look at him. "I'll do it. I'll die for them. For everyone." He smiles at me as I ask, "now how the fuck do I get out of this bitch?"

* * *

"Aoife, if you don't break the glass, you know what'll happen!" Charles pressured.

"I'm trying, you asshole!" I groan while staring at the glass ahead of me instead of at him. But I do know what will happen, the boys will die if I don't wake up now. I can see it past the window. Nikolai is standing in front of Dempsey in a crazed state of mind (after that cute dumbass accidentally opened up a hyper consciousness door in Nikki's mind), threatening to kill him. Takeo and Richtofen are about to fucking fight like they did in the Crusades.

"You're clearly not!" Charles exclaims, tearing me from my explanation to you guys. "Focus! Make your scream like a bullet!"

"You're pissing me off right now," I growl out.

He appeared on the other side of the glass, hitting his fist on the glass in a desperate attempt to get my attention. "Then use it to your advantage and. _Break. The. Glass_."

I sigh, holding my hands up like they could help me control where my scream could go. "Say something else. I dare you." I threaten him.

"You said it would be easy earlier!" I didn't budge, so he sighed. "Dempsey is going to die, Aoife."

That's all it took.

Screaming at the top of my lungs, I wake up, and I'm kicking and punching the covers off of me. My throat immediately started to burn, but I didn't care. They are _not_ dying. Not on my watch.

The lights in the room shattered, and the last image I had was Takeo and Richtofen covering their ears desperately.

When I stopped, Richtofen was in front of me with an _old_ flashlight. Takeo was hovering over him, and they didn't pay attention to the fact they almost fought, almost like they weren't in their right mind. "Aoife?" Richtofen hesitantly asked, worrying this was a trick. "Are you seriously awake?"

I grin. "Listen, I'd love to give you explanations, and it's amazing seeing you two in front of me right now, but I need to stop Dempsey and Nikolai from dying." With that, the three of us were running to the excavation site.


End file.
